The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea by fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s mother Amina Bi Kaskar and his sister Hasina Ibrahim Parkar challenging the attachment of their properties in Mumbai by the Centre. This will pave way for the Government to auction their Mumbai properties.
A Bench of Justices RK Agrawal and AM Sapre dismissed the plea saying the properties belonged to Dawood Ibrahim. His mother and sister (since dead) through their legal representatives challenged the attachment order of their residential properties in Mumbai.
The litigation concerned seven residential properties in their names. Of these, two were in the mother’s name and five in the sister’s name. It was the contention of the Government that the properties were purchased out of the fugitive don’s ill-gotten wealth and were valued at several crores of rupees.
The two women had approached the apex court challenging the order of the Delhi High Court that turned down their plea against the order for seizure of their properties in Mumbai under the Smugglers And Foreign Exchange Manipulators Forfeiture Of Property) Act (SAFEMA).
The Act provides for forfeiture of “illegally acquired properties” of smugglers and foreign exchange manipulators and their relatives. The petitioners had pleaded that they were not duly served forfeiture notices and so the subsequent proceedings to attach their properties at Nagpada in South Mumbai were illegal. They sought a fresh opportunity to challenge the forfeiture notices which the apex court declined.