Those arrested today have been identified as Head Constable Dinkar Chandrakant Kadam, Constable Bahadur Singh Bhika Paware and Constable Suresh Bhikaji Malvankar, all attached to the Local Arms Unit I. According to police on June 16, 1997, Abubaker Mohammed Koradia, a businessman, received a threatening call. The caller, who said he was calling on Feroz Kokani's behalf, demanded Rs 10 lakh from Koradia and asked him to meet Kokani at the Sessions Court. Koradia was threatened with dire consequences if the matter was reported to police.

A terrified Koradia narrated the incident to hisbrother Yahya who in turn got in touch with his brother-in-law Yusuf. Yusuf took Yahya to Kokani's father Abdulla who promised to arrange a meeting with Kokani at the Sessions Court on June 19, 1997. On June 19 Yahya met Kokani in the passage between the annexe building of the sessions court and the government staff quarters.

Kokani was at that time handcuffed in the prison van (MH-01-B-8917). The members of the escort party left Kokani alone while he held talks with Yahya. It was a short meeting and the message was clear - pay up or face death. Sometime between June 19 and October 1997 Yahya paid Rs 6 lakh to Abdulla Altaf alias Abdulla Dadi, a close aide of Kokani.

Police came to know of the deal when following Kokani's sensational escape from police custody on May 6, 1998, they picked up some of his associates for interrogation. Those arrested included Kokani's father Abdulla, brother Irfan, Altaf Dadi and Mohammed Hussain Rindani. Koradia and his brother too were summoned to the crime branch forquestioning.

Chargesheets were filed against the accused on September 2 and November 18, 1998. On December 14 when the framing of charges against accused came up for hearing before Holambe-Patil, he asked the police why the members of the escort party were not shown as accused. The investigating officer in the case P S I Shrirang Shinde assured the court that he would investigate into the matter and submit his report to the court.

Investigations revealed that the three constables who were arrested today alongwith PSI D G Patil and Constable Chandrakant Masale had helped Kokani speak to Yahya in the court premises. The three constables were produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Usha Iyer who remanded them to judicial custody upto February 9, 1999.