MUMBAI, May 17 -- A special court constituted under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has framed charges against Yusuf Suleman Kadri alias Yusuf Bachkana, once considered the right-hand man of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and co-accused Habiba Hussain Khan, the widow of a member of the Chhota Rajan gang, in a 2021 extortion case involving threats to a builder and demands for Rs.50 lakh and two flats. According to investigators, Bachkana allegedly continued coordinating extortion activities through associates outside prison despite being incarcerated, using threat calls to target businessmen and builders. Both Bachkana and Khan are facing trial as alleged members of an organised crime syndicate purportedly headed by Bachkana. Special judge NR Pradhan on Friday framed charges against the accused for criminal conspiracy, extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt, and organised crime offences under MCOCA. The court directed that the accused stand trial on allegations that they conspired to extort money and property from businessman Dinesh Gandhi by threatening him with death or grievous harm. According to the prosecution, Bachkana, who was then lodged in a Karnataka jail in connection with a separate murder case, along with Khan and wanted co-accused Mardan Suleman Kadri alias Mardan Khan, allegedly threatened Gandhi between May 19 and June 8, 2021, and demanded Rs.50 lakh or two flats in a Panvel project as extortion. The prosecution alleged that the accused acted in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy and as part of an organised crime syndicate headed by Bachkana, with the threats allegedly coordinated through associates despite his incarceration. The charges framed by the court state that the syndicate was allegedly involved in "illegal activities such as committing extortion, murder, contract killing by use of firearms" for obtaining pecuniary and other gains. Investigators had alleged at the time of registration of the FIR that Gandhi, a businessman linked to a redevelopment project in Panvel, began receiving threatening calls in May 2021 demanding money and flats in the project. According to police, the callers allegedly warned him of serious consequences if the demands were not met. The Mumbai crime branch later arrested Khan and secured Bachkana's production from Karnataka during the course of the investigation. Bachkana, a former aide of Dawood Ibrahim who later worked closely with gangster Ravi Pujari, has been named in multiple organised crime cases in Mumbai and Karnataka over the past three decades. At the time of his arrest in the present case, Bachkana was lodged in Hindalga Central Jail in Karnataka, where he was serving a life sentence in the murder of a Bengaluru builder. Investigators alleged that despite being incarcerated, he continued coordinating extortion activities through associates outside prison and used threat calls to target businessmen and builders....