<![CDATA[A murder was averted by the Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch by arresting an aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim on Friday. According to the police the accused, Ramdas Rahane, was given the task to kill a hotelier based in Malad. Mr. Rahane, a skilled shooter associated with the D-gang, was first arrested in 1997 for attempting to murder film producer Rajiv Rai. There are 11 criminal cases registered against him in Mumbai, Nashik and Gujarat. He is a native of Mumbai and Mr. Rahane was inducted into the gang after his younger brother, Dashrath Rahane, an aide of the D-gang, was murdered in the early 1990s. Mr.Dilip Sawant, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection), said that the hotelier had registered a complaint against the D-gang’s constant threats to kill him if he did not pay Rs.50 lakh as extortion money. The AEC officers arrested Rahane based on a confidential piece of information. He was produced in court on Saturday and remanded in police custody till June 30. The police have recovered a firearm and a hit list from his possession. Mr. Sawant said the complainant had opened a hotel in Dubai in 2001 with investments from some of his friends. The D-gang later killed one of the friends and demanded the money he had invested in the complainant’s hotel. Mr. Sawant said that the complainant paid whatever he could back then. However, over the past few months, the D-gang began issuing death threats to him again. When he refused to give in to the gang’s demands, Mr. Rahane was tasked with extorting the money from him. The Crime Branch officers have claimed to have found sufficient evidence of Mr. Rahane being in constant touch with top members of the D-gang. The officers will introgate the accused on the details of the murder plot, the hit list, and activities of the D-gang in India and abroad. Mr. Rahane is also accused of attempting to murder builder Vikyamal Shroff in Nashik in 2003, builder Omprakash Kukreja in 2005 and builder Manish Dholakia in 2011.]]>
