Mumbai:
The crime branch, which recently arrested a few people involved in the murder of diesel mafia Sayyed Ali Madar alias Chand, has learnt that one of the arrested members, Mohammad Ali Shaikh, had told Chhota Shakeel that Chand is a possible threat to their business in the dock area and could prove to be a "trouble".
Shakeel, who was not entirely convinced initially, later gave his approval to bump off Chand, allegedly involved in several cases of stealing marine diesel from the high seas.
Some say Chand was killed because of his own mistakes. One such big mistake he made was in 2008 when he had asked an associate, Samad, to carry out the theft.
While committing the crime, Samad was arrested and he took the entire blame on himself because Chand had assured him money in exchange for his sacrifice.
But Chand reneged on his promise when Samad was released in July, police said.
Samad then wanted to take revenge and approached Chand's rival Mohammed Ali. On September 15, Chand was shot dead from a point-blank range by two persons.
Later, nine persons, including Ali, were arrested by the crime branch.
The crime branch during their investigations had also intercepted Ali's telephone conversations with Shakeel.
Ali had made calls to Shakeel and they had talked about eliminating Chand.
The initial conversations revealed that when the offer to eliminate Chand had come from Samad, Ali had sought permission from Shakeel.
Some of the conversations accessed by DNA also revealed that Shakeel was not entirely convinced to get Chand killed and sought an explanation from Ali to bump off Chand.
"It was not that only Ali was making calls to Shakeel. Even Shakeel called up Ali to talk about the issue," said a police source.
The conversations also revealed that Ali had told Shakeel that Chand is a possible threat for him in the diesel smuggling business and can also prove to be a threat.
"Shakeel got convinced gave his nod to go ahead with the killing of Chand," the officer said.
Meanwhile, the crime branch is in talks with various agencies such as Customs, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The sources also claimed that incriminating documents related to money laundering were seized from Ali and this might be used against him to book him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A crime branch source said the police had seized several incriminating documents related to his money-laundering business and transport business.
"On the basis of the documents, the ED might carry out their own investigations against Ali under PMLA," the official said.
"We have appointed a special auditor to get the minute details of Ali's businesses and have also informed the agencies concerned," said Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police, crime.
The police investigations have also revealed that Ali amassed huge money from the smuggling of marine diesel business.
"He is into transport business and owns around 150 vehicles including trucks, containers and trailers.
The money generated through diesel smuggling is converted into his transport business and through money laundering," said a police officer.
The official also said that, Ali was trying to gain control over the union at the docks. "He has a staff of around 300 to 400 people. We have learnt that Ali, who had been into smuggling of marine diesel for the past 20 years, was also aiming to gain control over docks union," he said.
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