CBI takes over Gutkha case

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday registered cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against four persons for smuggling machinery to Karachi and for extortion in the case involving gutkha barons Rasiklal Dhariwal of the Manickchand group and Jagdish Joshi of Goa Gutkha.

The cases were registered against Zamurrduin Ansari, Rajesh Panchariya, Mohammad Farooq Mansurian and gangster Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees , the CBI said.

While Ansari and Panchariya are in custody, Anees is believed to be in Pakistan and Mansurian in Dubai.

Ansari and Panchariya had claimed that Dhariwal and Joshi had approached Anees to settle a dispute of Rs 40 crore between them.

Ansari and Panchariya had earlier told the Mumbai police they had taken the machinery to Karachi through a West Asian country.

Since the investigation had to be conducted in foreign countries, the case was transferred to the CBI from the police.

Dhariwal and Joshi have not been named in the first information report. CBI sources said their names could be added once the investigation began.

A Mumbai court has issued non-bailable warrants against Dhariwal and Joshi for their alleged underworld links.

The Interpol too has put Dhariwal and Joshi on their 'wanted' list after a request from India. The Interpol will issue a red corner notice after going through the evidence sent to it.

A red corner warrant is already pending against Anees in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The Gutkha manufacturers, enjoying non-resident Indian status, have denied the allegation and Dhariwal, in a statement, has offered to be questioned through video conferencing facility. The offences listed by the Interpol against the two, believed to be in the United Arab Emirates, are that of extortion and organised crime.

According to police sources, the two had allegedly accepted Anees' offer of setting up a gutkha factory in Karachi, where Dawood is based. It was for this factory that men and machine were transported from India through a West Asian port.