The three properties of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar in south Mumbai found a buyer, with Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), a charitable organisation run by Dawoodi Bohra community, coming up a highest collective bid of Rs 11.06 crore at an auction held on Tuesday.
The SBUT emerged as the highest bidder at an auction held by the Competent Authority and Administrator of Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators) Forfeiture of Properties Act (SAFEMA) at Churchgate in South Mumbai. There were nearly a dozen bidders at the auction venue.
Confirming that his trust had won the bid, a SBUT spokesperson said: “We had made bids for the three properties and have won the same at the auction. These properties fall within the redevelopment jurisdiction of the SBUT. We will complete the remaining formalities for the same in the coming days”.
“These buildings are in dilapidated condition and unfit for living. Therefore to ensure the safety of the families living in these buildings and to carry on with the redevelopment project, we participated in the bidding and acquired these properties,” the SBUT spokesperson added.
The Dawood properties that are being acquired by the SBUT are six flats (room numbers 18-20, 25,26 and 28) in Damarwala Building, where Dawood stayed with his family before fleeing the country in 1986, Hotel Raunaq Afroz on Pakmodia Street which had already gone under hammer once, and Shabnam Guest House, a double-storied building on Yakub Street which was occupied by Dawood’s younger siblings late Haseena and Iqbal. All these properties are located within a km radius in the congested Bhendi Bazar locality in south Mumbai.
According to informed sources in SAFEMA, the final winning bids in Tuesday’s auction were: Rs.4.53 crore for the Hotel Raunaq Afroz, Rs.3 crore for Shabnam Guest House and Rs.3.53 crore for the six rooms in Damarwala Building.
On October 18 when it called for bids for attached properties belonging to Dawood and others, the SAFEMA had kept a reserve price of Rs 1,55,76,000 for room numbers 18-20, 25,26 and 28 of the Damarwala Building, and houses 34-40 on Pakmodia Street and Yakub Street, Rs 1,18,63,000 for Hotel Raunaq Afroz on Pakmodia Street and Rs 1,21,43,000 for Shabnam Guest House, a double-storied building on Yakub Street.
In essence, the three prime properties fetched a collective price of Rs.11.06 crore as against the total reserve price of Rs.3.95 crore.
The SAFEMA had last week organised a physical inspection of the three premises for the prospective bidders.
Hindu Maha Sabha, which had also expressed its desire to participate in the bidding process, could not do so, as it was disqualified by SAFEMA for its failure to deposit earnest money.
It may be recalled that in January this year, the Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property had cleared decks for the Government to take Dawood’s two properties --- Damarwala Building and Shabnam Guest House under the provisions of SAFEMA, after dismissing 27 appeals of people claiming to be “long term tenants” at the two buildings.
Tuesday’s was the second occasion when Hotel Raunaq Afroz --- Hotel Delhi Zaika ---went under the hammer.
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In an auction held on December 9, 2015 former journalist-turned-activist S Balakrishnan on Wednesday had emerged the top bidder at Rs 4.28 crore for Hotel Rounak Afroz, a 500 sq ft eatery.
However, Balakrishnan failed to raise Rs 4.28 crore required for purchasing Hotel Rounak Afroz, resulting in forfeiture of his right to purchase the property.
The three properties were auctioned on Tuesday among the properties belonging to Dawood that were attached by various agencies after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in which the underworld don is one of the absconding accused.
It may be recalled that while the TADA court attached eight properties of Dawood in the nineties following his involvement in March 12,1993 Mumbai serial blasts, the IT department attached the remaining 15 properties subsequently.
Though the IT department had put up 23 properties for an auction in March 2001 after it failed to recover the tax dues for assessment years from 1991–1992 to 1995– 1996, there are more such benami properties which still remain unattached in Mumbai.
Delhi-based lawyer Ajay Srivatsava was incidentally the only brave one to have bid for one of Dawood’s properties when they were put up for a public auction in a Colaba hotel in south Mumbai on March 28,2001.
Incidentally, Srivatsava had to wage prolonged litigation against Dawood Ibrahim’s Mumbai family members, before the Mumbai Small Causes Court in the first week of March 2011 directed Haseena Parkar to hand over the purchased property –a shed admeasuring 297 sq feet that is located at Industrial gala no 32 at Tardeo in south Mumbai -- to him within three months.
Ironically enough, Srivatsava has yet to get possession of the shed which he had purchased at it Rs 2.5 lakh. After the smaller causes court directed Haseena Parkar to hand over the property to me, she filed an appeal in the same court and obtained a stay later that earlier. However, she passed away in 2014. Srivastava is still fighting to get possession of the property from the inheritor.
According to Srivatstava, Dawood’s family has been depositing a monthly rent of Rs 7,500 upon the orders of the court since 2011.