Gangster Ejaz Lakdawala’s brother granted bail in 2019 extortion case

The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Akhil Lakdawala the brother of gangster Ejaz Lakdawala who was arrested in 2019 for attempting to extort money from a businessman in Khar The court noted that the prosecution has no evidence apart from confessional statements and observed that the trial is unlikely to conclude soon The court stated that prolonged incarceration would amount to a violation of fundamental rights Along with Akhil his associate Sagar Yadav was also granted bail on similar grounds The bail was granted on February 25 and a detailed order was issued recentlyThe court also observed that material on record indicated that Ejazrsquos daughter Shifa Lakdawala was arrested in a fake case by the Crime Branch to pressure him into surrendering to the policeIn an interview with midday in February 2020 Shifa claimed that the police used her as bait to reach her father She was arrested at Mumbai international airport while flying to Nepal on allegations of using fake documents to obtain her passport The court noted that ldquothe record also shows that during the investigation the prosecution arrested Ejaz Lakdawalarsquos daughtermdashwho is married and resides in Mumbaimdashin a false case with the intention of pressurising him to surrender to the police After Ejaz Lakdawalarsquos arrest from Patna in January 2020 the prosecution discharged her from the caserdquoCourt observationsThe court noted that according to the prosecutionrsquos report eight more witnesses are yet to be examined However the prosecution informed the court that it could not provide details of these witnesses as it was unsure whether they would turn up to give evidence In the absence of these witnesses other panch witnesses might have to be examinedldquoConsidering the exigency expressed by the prosecution I am inclined to consider the present application for bail on the grounds of the applicantsrsquo long incarceration in prisonrdquo the judge stated in the orderThe court further noted that the applicants have been in custody for almost six years and the trial is unlikely to conclude in the foreseeable future ldquoDetaining an undertrial individual for such an extended period violates his fundamental right to a speedy trial flowing from Article 21 of the Constitutionrdquo the court observedThe court also cited the Supreme Courtrsquos stance that undertrial or accused persons who have been in prolonged incarceration with no possibility of trial completion soon can be granted bail ldquoBail is the rule and jail is an exceptionrdquo the court remarkedCase backgroundThe Kharbased businessman received an extortion call on December 5 2018 allegedly from a foreign number The caller claiming to be gang leader Ejaz Lakdawala demanded Rs 50 lakh as extortion money A complaint was lodged at Khar police station with the businessman stating that death threats had been made against him and his employeesDuring the investigation the prosecution arrested the complainantrsquos business partner which the court noted prima facie diluted the case against the applicants The court observed that the prosecutionrsquos evidence mainly consisted of Call Detail Records CDRs and confessional statements but no direct role of the applicants was establishedldquoThe only piece of prima facie material is the confessional statement of Ejaz Lakdawala which states that his brother Akhil alias Akil Merchant had settled the matter for R10 lakh and had provided information to his brother pursuant to which extortion calls were maderdquo the court saidHowever the court noted that the arrest of the complainantrsquos business partner further weakened the prosecutionrsquos case against Akhil indicating that the extortion call could not be solely attributed to himThe prosecution claimed that the applicants were constantly in contact with the head of the organised crime syndicate Ejaz Lakdawala and coaccused Sagar Yadav through mobile phones during the commission of the offence CDRs were presented as evidence to support the prosecutionrsquos caseThe court concluded ldquoIt is clarified that the observations made in this order are for the purpose of granting bail and do not reflect any opinion on merits of the case The trial shall proceed on its own merits based on evidence and in accordance with the lawrdquoEjaz Lakdawalarsquos arrestEjaz once a leading sharpshooter with the D Company was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch in January 2020 from Patna after being on the run for 20 years He was associated with Dawood Ibrahim before the split between Dawood and Chhota Rajan in 2000 after he formed his own gang2019Year Akhil Lakdawala was arrested