MUMBAI: In a major achievement, the most wanted fugitive gangster, Ejaz Lakdawala, who was on run for over 20 years, was arrested by the Mumbai police on Wednesday.
Lakdawala was arrested by the crime branch from Patna and brought to Mumbai on Wednesday night. He was produced in the court and remanded to police custody till January 21, said Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve.
Describing Lakdawala’s arrest as a “major achievement”, Barve said that there were 25 cases of extortion registered against Lakdawala in Mumbai and that he had made extortion calls to 80 people.
“Now that he has been arrested, we will find out how many unreported cases are there against him,” he added.
Police also hopes to get information on Dawood from Lakdawal.
Lakdawala, who is now in his fifties, was a member of both Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan gangs before he launched his own gang. He was last known to be living in Canada.
He used to call his targets from international numbers to demand extortion money and police had initiated efforts to arrest Lakdawala about six months back. The process intensified after the arrest of his daughter Soniya Sheikh on December 28, when she was trying to escape to Nepal using a passport acquired by submitting forged documents.
Lakdawala and his daughter, both were booked in February 2019 for making an extortion call to a builder in Khar West and her interrogation revealed probable whereabouts of Lakdawal in Nepal and North India, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Santosh Rastogi.
“Police had received information that he would be arriving in Patna on Wednesday and with help from the local police, they found him there,” he said.
A bright student from Bandra’s St. Stanislaus school, Lakdawala joined the ‘D-Company’ in the 1980s. However, he parted ways with Dawood around 1992 and joined Dawood’s arch rival Chhota Rajan. He worked with Rajan for around 8 years and broke up over some financial issues. It was around the same time in 2000 when Chhota Rajan was attacked by Dawood’s close aide Chhota Shakeel, whom the information on whereabouts of Rajan was believed to have been provided by Lakdawal.
There was also an attempt on life of Lakdawal in Bangkok. He sustained bullet injury during the attack. He was admitted to hospital, from where he escaped in June 2003 and fled to South Africa. Later he managed to escape to Canada where he was arrested in 2004 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada following an Interpol red corner notice for him.
While on run he virtually became a globetrotter with operations in Canada, UK, US, Malaysia, Cambodia, Nepal and other countries. He is reported to have amassed huge properties in Malaysia, London and Canada which the Mumbai Police is likely to investigate separately.
Lakdawala also hatched a plot to kill Dawood in Karachi but the plan failed as Dawood did not turn up.
In April 2019, Ejaz’s elder brother, Akeel Yusuf Lakdawala was arrested by AEC for allegedly demanding Rs 50 lakh from a Khar-based developer on Ejaz’s instruction.