Salim Fruit gets bail in extortion case

MUMBAI: A special MCOCA court on Wednesday granted bail to Salim Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, a close relative of Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Chhota Shakeel, and his aide Riyaz Ahmed Bhati arrested by the crime branch in 2022 for allegedly trying to extort ₹62 lakh from a city businessman.
The incident took place during Bhati’s birthday party in 2021, where the prosecution had alleged that the duo and five others were part of a conspiracy hatched to extort money from the complainant.
It was alleged by the prosecution that at the party, Salim Fruit and the complainant became friends, and they started playing cards. They got involved in a betting game, following which Fruit allegedly began demanding ₹62 lakh. He also allegedly forced the businessman to part with his Range Rover which was worth ₹30 lakhs.
The prosecution had also alleged that Bhati also threatened the businessman. Facing subsequent threats, the complainant had allegedly paid an additional ₹7 lakh to the bank account given by Fruit.
The crime branch subsequently arrested five others, Ajay Gosalia, Feroz Chamda, Sameer Khan, Papa Pathan and Amjad Redkar, for their alleged connection with the Dawood gang. The police had invoked various sections of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the seven.
The Bombay high court in April this year had granted bail to three of the accused – Sameer Taj Khan, Firoz Hussain Shaikh and Ajay Gosalia – on the count that there was no proof to establish the link of the trio with the alleged organised crime syndicate managed by Fruit.
The special sessions judge directed Riyaz Bhati and Salim Fruit to be released on bail “on furnishing a personal recognition bond of ₹1 lakh each,” adding that they should not “contact the complainant and other witnesses, directly or indirectly in any manner, till the conclusion of this trial.”