In a development that came exactly a month after the arrest of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar by the Thane police in an extortion case, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Wednesday put up an auction notice in a leading newspaper, seeking bids for three properties belonging to the Karachi-based underworld don in Mumbai.
In all six properties have been listed in the newspaper advertisement. Of them, three are owned by Dawood. The three Dawood properties that have been put up for auction are: room numbers 18-20, 25, 26 and 28 of the Damarwala Building, and houses 34-40 on Pakmodia Street and Yakub Street, where his late sister Haseena Parkar used to reside, Hotel Raunaq Afroz on Pakmodia Street which has already gone under hammer once, and Shabnam Guest House, a double-storied building on Yakub Street.
Three more properties that have been listed in the auction notice are a flat at Mazgaon, factory flat at Aurangabad and tenancy rights of a flat at Dadriwali chawl along Maulana Shaukat Ali building in south Mumbai. There is no official confirmation, these remaining three properties are also suspected to be owned by Dawood.
All six properties will be auctioned by the office of the Competent Authority and Adminstrator of SAFEMA (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators) Forfeiture of Properties Act/ NDPSA, Mumbai on November 14.
All the three methods of sale opening of sealed tenders, public auction and E-auction will be held on the same day at the India Merchant Chambers (IMC) at Churchgate in south Mumbai.
Of the properties, the SAFEMA has 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.
Incidentally, the Thane an-extortion cell police had on the night of September 18 arrested Kaskar from Gordon Hall apartment in Nagpada in South Mumbai, where he had shifted after the collapse of the neighbouring “Huseini Building” building.
Till she died of a massive heart attack on July 4, 2014, Dawood’s sister Haseena used to hold kangaroo court in the first floor of her residence at Gordon House in Nagpada. Known as the Pehla Mala Court among members of her inner coterie, Haseena settles disputes between builders and gangsters here.
This is not for the first time that the Centre has made an effort to auction the properties belonging to Dawood which were attached by various agencies after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in which the underworld don is one of the absconding accused. There have been at least three occasions in the past when bids were called to auction Dawood’s properties.
There are at least 50 benami properties in Mumbai. Da*wood’s younger sister Haseena Ibrahim Parkar used to take care of several of these properties till she passed away on July 6, 2014.
It may be recalled that while the TADA court attached 8 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 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 than equal number 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. I am still fighting to get possession of the property from the inheritor which I hope to get in the next few months,” Srivatsava told “The Pioneer” over phone from New Delhi.
According to Srivatstava, Dawood’s family has been depositing a monthly rent of Rs 7,500 upon the orders of the court since 2011. “We had asked the court to increase the monthly rent to Rs 15,000. That has not happened so far,” he said.
In another 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 in downtown south Mumbai.
Hotel Rounak Afroz, known currently as Delhi Zaika, is located at in the vicinity of Dawood’s house in Dambarwala building in Pakmodia Street where his younger brother Iqbal Kaskar resides.
However, S Balakrishnan failed to raise Rs 4.28 crore required for purchasing Hotel Rounak Afroz, resulting in forfeiture of his right to purchase the property.
After winning the bid, Balakrishnan had deposited Rs 30 lakh with the auction firm. He, however, failed to raise the remaining Rs 3.98 crore for the property within 30 stipulated days. The second highest bidder --the Rs Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Trust’—refused to pitch in and purchase Dawood’s property in place of Balakrishnan. As a result, the property had remained unsold.
Queried if he would re-bid for Hotel Rounak Afroz in the auction slated for November 14, Balakrishnan – who currently runs an NGO ’Desh Seva Samiti --told this newspaper on Wednesday night: “If people support me (financially), I will definitely”.
Balakrishnan, who had received a telephonic threat from Dawood Ibrahim aide Chhota Shakeel ahead of the auction held at Hotel Diplomat at Colaba in south Mumbai, was planning to use the property housing Hotel Rounak Afroz to set up a computer centre for underprivileged women and children of Bhendi Bazar, a Muslim-dominated locality in south Mumbai.
In the 2015 auction, All India Hindu Mahasabha President Swami Chakrapani won the bid at Rs 3.32 lakh to purchase Dawood’s Hyundai Accent, which was priced at measly Rs 15,700. However, this green sedan was parked at a government society in Ghatkopar which was in a bad shape with burst tyres and shattered windshield, was set ablaze by some unidentified miscreants within days of its purchase by Swami Chakrapani.