He started out as a bike mechanic in the early nineties, notorious criminal Afzal Hazi Khan alias Afzal Pani is enjoying a free run as he continues to impose his 'reign of terror' and scare people, courtesy his links to the infamous Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company and his sister Hasina Parkar. The Mazagaon resident has allegedly been accused of running a syndicate, with his associates involved in crimes such as extortion, land grabbing, dealing in drugs and even trafficking of girls. Acquiring a reputation for filing over 15,000 RTI applications and more than 500 bogus cases over the last 15 years and using them as means to extract money, the police has hardly done anything to act against or arrest Pani.

Despite statements issued by senior level police officers of how his nexus with cops would be probed, the situation is a far cry. Pani has boasted of his 'high’ level contacts with senior rank officers and several media reports too exposed how there was a leak in the police department. A few social activists this paper spoke to say many press reporters and police personnel are on his payroll, so don't act despite repeated complaints against him.

Out of the 88 people (including cops) he has gotten trapped with ACB's help, 66 have been given a clean chit.

It comes across as a surprise how he used some of the city's top cops to spread his own fiefdom in the city.

PEDDLING 'TRUE' LIES?
The 46-year-old runs a weekly paper, Mumbai Jansandesh, whose closure has been ordered for spreading and publishing false news and promoting propaganda. He is believed to have used his publication to blackmail people and later 'settle' the issue. Pani's name surfaced earlier too for getting one of his accomplices to frame two Kutch-based men.

A police informer said, "He is notorious for taking inappropriate pictures, taking videos, creating MMS clips and then blackmailing the targets for money."

While he continues to defend himself and call all of this a 'lie', he has filed cases against his own parents and evicting them from their own house. Pani's father had written a letter (in possession with ADC) to the then BMC commissioner, intimating them against illegal construction by his son. The 'RTI specialist' as he is known in informer circles say he threatened and forcefully occupied the house of a senior citizen. His name has cropped up in a minor trafficking racket, where girls were later smuggled to Gulf, mainly Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the former police informer has cases registered against him in police stations in Nagpada, Byculla, Dongri, Pant Nagar, Versova and in Pune and Bengaluru.

Social activist Gulzar Danish Patel says "He has extorted money from many people and blackmailed bar dancers by threatening to release their scandalous and objectionable videos. He has many cases against him, yet the police take his complaints and file FIRs without thoroughly investigating. He should be externed."
"He has a team of people who go to places where construction and renovation is going on and asks them if they have requisite permissions to make alterations. They ask if permissions from BMC, landlord and society has been obtained. He takes money from people after blackmailing them on flimsy grounds. BMC officials and police are involved. The NGO he runs Adarsh Samaj Sevak Sangh has also closed down, with the Charity Commissioner canceling their license. He has been closely linked to Iqbal Kaskar and even worked for him," said another social worker on condition of anonymity.

However, several media reports have also highlighted social worker Pani's role as a former police informer and the assistance provided by him in cracking cases and certain anti-social and criminal elements.

On July 31 last year 26-year-old Mohammed Farhan was arrested in an assault case after Pani filed a cross FIR in Byculla police station, that eventually led to Farhan's externment.

Farhan's father Arif Momin, a medical shop owner said "My son was falsely framed in the case. In fact Pani and his friends beat him up. He was externed for six months and the court later even reversed it. He will be back with us tonight. However it has been seven months since the filing of this case, and police have not yet arrested Pani. Even though he has a criminal record, there was action against my son. I even met the Zone 3 DCP and gave him a letter explaining the situation, yet nothing was done."

'BUILDING' A PARADISE
Pani is believed to have a team of builders in place that blackmail residents (of buildings to be developed) who refuse to vacate and falsely implicate them in cases. As per sources, Dawood's money is being pumped into the construction business. All the builders he is associated with, have direct or indirect links to D-company.Munaaf Vadgama has 83 FIRs against his name at JJ police station and is believed to have cheated flat buyers by selling one flat to six people. The others include Tabrez Rubberwala (more than 25 FIRs and blacklisted by BMC), Mehboob Soratiya and brothers Haneef and Mohammed Balakiya.

"Pani today is worth 50-60 crores. Where did he get this money from? Everyone knows how he runs his NGO like a business and extorts money from people," says Patel.

Asif Ali Sayed alias Asif Katori, Sunny, Pappu Choti, Mumtaz Sheikh, Arif Qureshi, Salman Qureshi, Zainul Qureshi and Badre Alam alias Jugnu are his key associates.

"My newspaper is very much running and the operations of our NGO too are smooth. Reports and news of both shutting down are entirely false. In the Byculla case too, I did not get that boy externed, it was the police. My driver was badly beaten up. So you must ask them. All these allegations against me are untrue and baseless. I am not wrong in any way. In fact our NGO has rescued so many girls and rehabilitated them. I do not engage any kind of trafficking activities. The rumour that I am in the drugs business holds no weight. Also, I have nothing to do with Iqbal Kaskar and don't know why my name is associated with him", said Aslam Hazi Khan.

“He has extorted money from many people and blackmailed bar dancers by threatening to release their scandalous and objectionable videos. He has many cases against him, yet the police take his complaints and file FIRs without thoroughly investigating. He should be externed.”
- Gulzar Danish Patel, Social activist

Email this