Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Iqbal Mirchi, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, died of a heart attack here on Wednesday night.
Mirchi, 63, the right-hand man of India’s topmost terrorist, was facing drug smuggling charges in India and was also under investigation over the Indian Premier league match-fixing and betting scandal. He had been living in a large six-bedroom home in an exclusive part of Hornchurch, a town in Essex, north-east of london.
An Interpol Red Corner Notice against Muhammed Iqbal Memon or Iqbal Mirchi, ranked among the world’s top 50 drug barons, had been issued in 1994 on Central Bureau of Investigation’s request. A United Nations report had claimed he is a senior figure in the ‘D’ company, a worldwide organised-crime syndicate headed by Dawood.
In April 1995, officers from Scotland Yard had raided Mirchi’s home and arrested him on drugs and terrorism charges in connection with the blasts in Mumbai. However, an extradition request by India was turned down by magistrates here.