Mumbai, June 06: Police have gathered information from intelligence sources that Iqbal Hassan Kaskar, younger brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and incarcerated accused in a case of alleged extortion, was desperately making efforts to become member of a political party. "We have come across such information and are analysing it. We shall certainly pre-empt such move and foil attempts of Iqbal to enter the political arena", a senior police officer told a news agency here today. According to the information gathered by police, Iqbal was planning to become a member of a political party to use political clout to safeguard Dawood's properties and illegal activities in the country. The gangster was confident that he could not be prosecuted due to lack of substantial evidence and was therefore planning to join a political party and contest next year's Lok Sabha elections. Kaskar was deported from Dubai on February 19 and booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly forcing a woman to vacate her house which blocked a shopping complex, owned by Dawood in south Mumbai.
Holding that Iqbal and his two associates were front men of Dawood in real estate business, a special court has attached two properties of the underworld don, Sara Shopping Centre and Sahara Shopping Complex.
Iqbal is also facing charges in a conspiracy case for trying to kill an CBI informer in 1999.

Bureau Report