Pune DRI Officer, Family Threatened; Caller Claims D-Company Ties

A serious case of criminal intimidation has come to light after the Deputy Director of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Pune Regional Unit, and his family allegedly received death threats from a man claiming links to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company.

Based on a complaint filed by the Deputy Director, Pune Police have registered a case against Mushtaq Sheikh and his associate.

According to police, the complainant has been serving as Deputy Director of the DRI's Pune Regional Unit since 2024. On June 3, while travelling to his native place, he received a phone call from Sheikh, who claimed to know one of the officer's informants and expressed a desire to work as an informant for the agency. The officer asked him to contact him later.

However, on the night of June 5, while the officer was travelling to Patna, Sheikh allegedly called again and requested that he intervene with Customs officials to secure the release of several laptops and mobile phones seized at Mumbai International Airport after arriving from Dubai. The officer reportedly refused the request.

Following the refusal, Sheikh allegedly sent 13 WhatsApp voice messages to the officer at around 3.40am on June 6. In the messages, he allegedly accused the officer of sharing information with the Mumbai Air Intelligence Unit, resulting in action against his associates.

The voice notes allegedly contained threats and abusive language. Sheikh reportedly claimed to have been involved in smuggling for over 30 years and to have strong criminal connections. He allegedly threatened the officer and his family and warned that they would not be able to move freely outside Pune.

Later that evening, at around 7.30pm, the officer received another phone call from an unidentified person who allegedly claimed to have worked for Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company syndicate for the past three decades and described himself as being well known to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

The caller allegedly threatened the Deputy Director, his family members and officials of the DRI Pune Regional Unit.

Following the complaint, the Viman Nagar Police registered a non-cognizable offence and launched an investigation.

Senior Police Inspector Govind Jadhav of Viman Nagar Police Station told The Free Press Journal that a case has been registered and the investigation is underway. "The facts will become clear during the course of the investigation," he said.