India, June 13 -- A special MCOCA court has granted bail to Salim Penwala, also known as Salim Dadhi, an alleged associate of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and aide of Ejaz Lakdawala, in connection with a 2011 extortion case registered by Mumbai's JJ Marg police. The court cited lack of direct evidence and inconsistencies in the prosecution's version of events.

The prosecution claimed that Dadhi had received Rs.25 lakh from a Rs.50 lakh extortion collected by Lakdawala from a businessman in 2011. However, Lakdawala had allegedly revealed Dadhi's involvement during an interrogation after his own arrest in 2020-nine years after the incident-only to later retract his statement, alleging he had been coerced with threats to his daughter. ...