From fruit-seller to dreaded Dawood lieutenant

 

 

In 2006, Salim was arrested by the Dubai police and deported to India where he was arrested in the extortion case and charged under the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999.

In 2014, Salim’s prominence in the gang started rising. Before him, the one person whose word was final was Haseena Parkar, Dawood’s late sister, who ran the gang’s business from her Pakmodia Street residence.

Mumbai: At first glance, there isn’t much to separate Salim Fruit from the quintessential gangster: a funny-sounding nickname, an origins story that began with dropping out of college, a string of failed businesses and being in and out of prison in connection with Mumbai underworld’s favourite activity – extortion. What puts Salim a cut above the rest, however, is his relationship with one of the most wanted criminals today and the respect that this automatically earns him in the D-Company.

Mohammed Salim Iqbal Qureshi is one of the seven siblings of a mid-level trader from South Mumbai. He completed his schooling from Saifee High School and then took admission to Burhani College. However, soon after he failed his Higher Secondary exams, he quit college and started working at a fruit store.

It was during this time that he is said to have had his first brush with the world of crime. “At the age of 17, Salim started making trips to Pakistan, carrying imitation jewellery, betel leaves and other items,” said a friend of Salim. “He would fly to Dubai with a stopover in Karachi, and during the stopover, he would hand over his cargo to a contact.”

The friend claimed that it was during these trips to Dubai that Salim first came into contact with Dawood’s brother Anees, and through him with Dawood’s chief lieutenant Chhota Shakeel. A few years later, he married Shazia, whose sister Nazma is married to Chhota Shakeel. Shakeel is known to handle all the day-to-day operations of the gang and, along with his boss, is on the global Most Wanted list.

Salim earlier told the Mumbai police crime branch that it was solely due to his being related to Shakeel that the police kept interrogating him, an oft-used tactic of law-enforcement agencies who pick up family members of wanted people. Salim claimed that he grew tired of the ‘harassment’ and shifted to Dubai in 2000, where he set up a supermarket in Deira.

The police’s suspicion about his gang affiliation, however, became stronger within a year of Salim’s relocation when he was named as an accused in an extortion case registered in 2001. Salim, along with Jameel Haji and Mohammed Sabir Shaikh, had allegedly threatened a businessman, demanding ₹50 lakh on behalf of Shakeel. Police said it was Salim himself who had allegedly made the call.

Homecoming

In 2006, Salim was arrested by the Dubai police and deported to India where he was arrested in the extortion case and charged under the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999. In 2010, however, he was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence. “After being released, Salim continued his foreign trips under the pretext of going on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, and allegedly also got involved in the gang’s hawala and extortion rackets,” Salim’s friend said.

Soon, Salim shifted with his family to Mir Apartment in Arab Galli and opened up the Garib Nawaz hotel in Null Bazaar. His purported attempts at building a façade of innocence, however, did not last long. In 2016, the anti-extortion cell arrested two accused in a 2004 case of extortion of ₹25 lakh from a doctor. The duo, in their interrogation, named Salim as the caller and this, coupled with the fact that he was in Dubai at the time of the offence, was enough to land him behind bars.

Three months later, however, he was back on the streets, once again acquitted due to lack of evidence. His name kept coming up in various cases under investigation by the Crime Branch, and it continued to keep tabs on him.

Ascent

In 2014, Salim’s prominence in the gang started rising. Before him, the one person whose word was final was Haseena Parkar, Dawood’s late sister, who ran the gang’s business from her Pakmodia Street residence. When Haseena passed away in 2014, Salim became the only direct relative of the top member of the gang and took over the mantle. As his stature and power grew, so did his activities.

The police kept an eye on Salim, particularly when they began hearing his name in connection with a multi-crore redevelopment project in South Mumbai. “His connection to the project, with the kind of money involved, was suspicious,” a senior Crime Branch officer said. The Crime Branch also noted that over the last three years, Salim has visited no less than 17 to 18 countries, including China, Bangkok, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Downfall

Circa 2022 turned out to be Salim’s nemesis. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered an FIR against Dawood and his close associates under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and initiated a crackdown on what remained of the D-gang in Mumbai. Salim was among those arrested.

Fate had one last cruel trick to play on him. Just before his arrest, he was contacted by one Vishal Kale, who assured the gangster that he had connections in Delhi and could save him from arrest. Strangely, the hardened D-gang member believed the conman and is said to have paid ₹50 lakh to Kale, realising his folly only later when Kale himself was arrested for trying to wheedle ₹100 crore from senior politicians purportedly in exchange for getting them ministerial berths.

Several key figures connected to the D-gang are now behind bars, some in the custody of the Crime Branch or NIA like Arif Shaikh and his brother Shabbir. All have been charged with handling Dawood’s illegal activities and collecting money to finance his terrorist activities.

The federal agency has so far conducted searches at 29 locations in Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander and Mumbra, and quizzed many other suspects like Suhail Khandwani, a trustee of the Haji Ali and Mahim dargahs, and Guddu Pathan, a relative of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar. The searches have allegedly led to the seizure of incriminating material like electronic devices, documents of investments in real estate, cash and firearms.

In February, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and arrested Maharashtra minority development minister Nawab Malik in February. Mallik is alleged to have usurped a ₹300 crore plot of land in Kurla with Haseena Parkar’s help.