Mumbai, May 18 (IANS) A metropolitan court here Wednesday remanded two men to police custody till May 26 for allegedly gunning down the driver of Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of India's most wanted mafia don Dawood Ibrahim, a day earlier.
"The two accused, Syed Bilal (Mustafa Ali) and Inderlal (Bahadur) Khatri have been remanded to police custody till May 26," Public Prosecutor Satish Patil told reporters outside the court.
"Three revolvers, 12 live cartridges and five used cartridges have been seized from the accused," he added.
Patil said the men have been charged under Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In a surprise announcement, police Wednesday said Iqbal Kaskar was not fired at by gunmen in the attack that killed his driver. It was not immediately clear if he was the target.
Contradicting what the area police had said late Tuesday night, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajkumar Vhatkar said Wednesday that Kaskar was not in the vehicle when the shooting took place.
"According to our information, Kaskar was not (there). Only his driver and bodyguard were present at the spot," Vhatkar told reporters.
He said Kaskar's driver Arif Syed Abubaker, 45, was shot in the chest and died when gunmen opened fire near a restaurant, close to Kaskar's house on Pakmoria Street in south Mumbai.
The bodyguard was injured in the attack.
Police nabbed two men after the incident. Two others, identified as Syed Bilal Mustafa Ali and Inderlal Bahadur Khatri, were arrested Wednesday.
Police are trying to ascertain who ordered the attack -- and whether Kaskar was the target -- and if the shooting signalled a return of gang wars on Mumbai streets.
Wanted in connection with a murder and land-grabbing cases, Kaskar was extradited from Dubai in 2003. However, he was acquitted in the cases for lack of evidence.
Presently, he deals in the real estate business. Dawood Ibrahim, according to Indian officials, is holed up in Pakistan, having fled India after the 1993 Mumbai bombings.