Son of former Dawood gang shooter among arrested by Maharashtra ATS

One of the nine suspects arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly planning terrorist activity, is a son of Abdul Rashid Hussein alias Rashid Malabari, one of the most dreaded sharpshooters of the Dawood gang. Malabari was instrumental in a sensational shootout at gangster Chhota Rajan at Bangkok.

Malabari's son, 21-year-old Mazhar Abdul Rashid Shaikh was among the arrested. "Since his father Rashid Malabari was linked with the underworld, we would be probing if Mazhar too had any links with underworld operatives," said an ATS officer, requesting anonymity.

Rashid Malabari was part of a five-member team, that was entrusted to execute the overseas shootout operations for Shakeel and Dawood Ibrahim gang. In May 2009, Mumbai crime branch had arrested Malabari custody from their Mangalore counterparts in a murder case of Shabbir Pathan, a Rajan gang tipper, who was gunned down in Tilak Nagar in 1998.

"Rashid was involved in two shootout cases on foreign land. He was also involved in the attempt on the life of Chhota Rajan in Bangkok in 2000 in which Rajan escaped, but his aide Rohit Verma and Bharat Nepali were killed. He also killed Balu Dokre, an aide of Rajan, in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. He was involved in three murder cases, at Bandra, Tilak Nagar and Shivaji Nagar respectively," said a police officer.

"After the murder of gangster Hussain Vastra in 1998, Malabari went to Dubai, where he stayed for three years. He then left for Bangkok to eliminate Rajan and after that operation, he again returned to Dubai and later settled in Malaysia. He entered India in 2008 via Nepal and was finally caught by Mangalore police in May 2009," the officer said.