Arif Abubakar Shaikh alias Arif Bhaijaan, brother-in-law of fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel and an accused in a terror-funding case, died at state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai. His body was handed over to his relatives Saturday afternoon, official sources said here.
Shaikh (63) was lodge at Arthur Road jail and was admitted in JJ Hospital on Friday after he developed breathing problems.Within four hours of his admission, he was declared dead, his advocate MB Shaikh said.According to his relative "Arif Khan.had no trouble and was in the pink of health. The authorities are not telling us anything, and we gathered the information from JJ Hospital,” he said.
Shaikh and his brother Shabbir Shaikh were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in May 2023 in connection with a terror funding case against fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and some of his close aides, including Chhota Shakeel.Various courts had rejected his bail plea, observing that he was a member of Dawood’s organised crime syndicate, D-Company.
The NIA had registered a case against Dawood, his brother Anees and Chhota Shakeel, among others, in February 2022 for their alleged involvement in arms smuggling, narco-terrorism, money laundering, circulation of fake Indian currency notes and other charges.
They were also accused of being involved in the acquisition of assets for raising terror funds and working in active collaboration with international terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al Qaeda.(UNI)
