Slain gangster's associates held for land deals

HYDERABAD: The Malkajgiri Special Operation Team (SOT) police on Friday arrested two associates of slain gangster Mohammed Nayeemuddin for indulging in land disputes and extortion.    Police seized land documents and cheques from the accused. The arrested are Mohd Nawab and Modi Ramesh.

Police said Nawab was doing real estate business in Maheshwaram mandal in Ranga Reddy district. He came in contact with Shakeel, a resident of Bhongir, (he was one of the main associates of Nayeem and died recently of a heart attack) through Shakeel. Shakeel and Nayeem directed Nawab to identify the disputed lands located in Maheshwaram.

While Nawab was working on disputed lands, he met Ramesh who was also into real estate business. Within short time, both of them became friends and when Ramesh came to know that Nawab was associate of Nayeem and Shakeel, he started looking for disputed lands in Maheshwaram too. In the process, he came to know that one RMP doctor Yadaiah, a resident of Maheshwaram, had a dispute with one Jaya Reddy, a resident of Jubilee Hills, over 30 acres of land in Kothapet in Mahbubnagar district. Nawab conveyed the information to Shakeel who, in turn, passed it on to Nayeem, police said.

As per his plan, Nawab contacted Yadaiah and assured him that he would settle the land issue. But Yadaiah expired soon and his son Ramu was not in position to give the money demanded by Nawab for settling the issue.

Taking advantage of Ramu’s poor finances, Nawab secured the details of Jaya Reddy through Ramesh and threatened him to settle the issue saying that he was an associate of Nayeem and that he would eliminate him if he did not meet their demand.

Nawab, along with Ramesh, then began meeting Jaya Reddy and demanding money from him. In the process, they collected `60 lakh from Jaya Reddy who sold out his 21 acres of land in Porandla to his neighbour Ravi Teja at a whopping price. On coming to know about Reddy’s land sale, the duo demanded huge money from him. Wilting under the threats, Reddy paid `80 lakh to Nawab and the money was shared by Nawab, Shakeel and Ramesh.

Nawab approached his relative Mohd Younus, a software engineer who worked in Japan, China and Europe, and asked him to invest   in real estate and hand loans. Younus believed him and gave money to Nawab who used the money to lend it to needy people at exorbitant interest rates.