MUMBAI, Nov. 10 -- The sessions court on Friday granted bail to a 33-year-old man who was arrested for threatening Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Zeeshan Siddique and trying to extort Indian cricketer Rinku Singh by claiming to be affiliated with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The accused, identified as Mohammad Naushad, is a resident of Bihar, who worked as a daily wage labourer in Trinidad and Tobago. Naushad was detained by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the city crime branch on August 1, soon after he landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA). Earlier in May, a 'lookout' circular had been issued against him after investigators traced a series of threatening emails to his IP address. According to the police, Naushad had sent multiple emails to Siddique in April, demanding Rs.10 crore and claiming to be associated with Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company. In these messages, he referred to the October 2024 murder of Zeeshan's father, former MLA Baba Siddique, asserting that the D-Company, and not the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, was behind the killing. Investigations revealed that Naushad had also sent extortion messages to cricketer Rinku Singh through an email account linked to the batsman's brand campaign. In his first message on February 5, Naushad requested financial help, but later, he demanded Rs.5 crore, again invoking the name of Dawood's gang. On April 20, he sent a reminder email reiterating the threat, the police added. While Naushad's representatives said he is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the crimes, the prosecution flagged the seriousness of the offence and highlighted the possibility of Naushad absconding if he is released on bail. However, additional sessions judge VP Desai noted that the police report did not mention that Naushad had any prior criminal record. The court said, "Discretion in the nature of bail can be exercised in favour of the applicant on certain terms and conditions," and released him on bail in exchange for a personal bond of Rs.50,000....