The case against Sharma, who is lodged in the Tihar jail here, was registered at the Hauz Khas police station yesterday following a recent complaint by Dinky Mascaranhas, owner of the Mumbai-based Olympus Super Structures, Deputy Commissioner of Police P K Srivastava said.

According to the complaint, in November 1996, Sharma contacted Mascaranhas through his friend Samuel Bandish for drawing architectural plans for his `Jai Mata Di' farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi and other properties.

When Mascaranhas came to Delhi with the plans, Sharma ``forcibly took away the project's blueprints and gave only Rs 10 lakh as against the agreed Rs 50 lakh and forcibly got a receipt signed for Rs 40 lakh,'' Srivastava said.

Sharma also allegedly snatched Mascaranhas' cellphones and other belongings atgunpoint, he said.

Mascaranhas said in his complaint he did not report the matter to the police at the time as he had received threatening calls from gangster Chhota Shakeel, the DCP said.

The complainant also alleged Sharma took away two Chevrolet cars from him in March 1998, when he had brought them for sale here. Sharma allegedly forced him to sign a receipt for Rs 1.28 crore.

However, Mascaranhas mustered courage after Sharma's arrest and lodged a complaint with the Delhi police, resulting in registration of the case, Srivastava said.

The DCP further said the Chevrolet cars were seized by the Delhi police from Sharma's Mayfair Garden residence during the October 21, 1998 raid.

With this robbery and extortion case, the total number of cases against Sharma has gone up to 16. Fifteen cases were registered against Sharma soon after his arrest on October 21, of which 13 are under investigation by the Delhi police while the other two have been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI).

Those transferred to the CBI pertain to the forcible acquisition of a helicopter belonging to H Suresh Rao and obtaining by ``questionable means'' a passport for Dawood Ibrahim's mother in July 1993.

His detention under the National Security Act has, however, been revoked following rejection of his detention on ``technical grounds'' by an advisory board of the Delhi High Court.

During searches at Romesh Sharma's house, jointly by the Delhi police, Income-Tax, Excise and Wildlife officials, documents pertaining to at least 11 properties in Delhi and five in Mumbai were found.

In addition, 14 cars, imported liquor, animal skins, 14 live cartridges of 0.32 bore, jewellery, gold crockery and ornaments, Rs 11 lakh in cash, shares worth Rs one crore and fixed deposit recepits for Rs 23.50 lakh were recovered.