Bollywood News

Apart from actress Nagma, the list of names forwarded by police here to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a probe into underworld links includes several businessmen, executives and celebrities.

According to police officials, the statements made by Jamruddin "Kalia" Ansari alias Jumbo and his associate Rajesh Panchariya to the police included information on several people who allegedly helped mobboss Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim set up legitimate businesses in Pakistan.

The duo's statements helped police nail prominent gutka (chewing tobacco) makers like Rasiklal Dhariwal, owner of Manikchand Gutka, and Jagdish Joshi, owner of Goa Gutka. Both men are out of the country and Interpol has issued red-corner notices for their arrest.

Details of the people included on the list sent by the police to the CBI were, however, not immediately available.

Jumbo was caught after some of his associates allegedly tried to export machines to pack and seal gutka to Karachi via Dubai. While some of the machinery was delivered, authorities seized a few consignments.

Police interrogated Ansari and Panchariya and several others late last year and their statements were forwarded to the CBI after the agency took over the probe of the gutka case from Maharashtra Police.

Extracts of the statements purportedly made by Ansari that implicated actress Nagma were aired by a TV news channel Sunday night.

The statement alleged Anees Ibrahim sent Rs.1 million by hawala or illegal channels to Nagma at her flat in suburban Mumbai. It went on to also allege a relationship between the two.

However, Nagma denied the allegations and said they were politically motivated. The actress is a prominent campaigner for the Congress party and is on the election trail for the party in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Meanwhile Ansari's counsel told journalists here that the confession obtained by the police was done so under duress and after applying third degree methods against him.

Reports also suggest that Nagma may have been named due to mistaken identity. The city police had arrested the mother of another starlet also named Nagma for mob links some years ago.

So far, cases under the tough Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act have been slapped against Jumbo, Panchariya and two others - Zamiruddin Ansari, Mohammed Farooq Mansurian - apart from Dawood and Anees.

Jumbo and Ansari also told the police that Dhariwal and Joshi had approached Anees for settlement of a dispute between them.