The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Centre to seize underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’ properties in Mumbai, PTI reported. A bench of Justice RK Agrawal and Justice AM Sapre dismissed a plea filed by Ibrahim’s family against the attachment of his properties.
The properties are located in Nagpada in south Mumbai. Ibrahim’s mother, Amina Bi Kaskar, and sister, Hasina Parkar, had taken possession of seven residential properties, estimated to be worth crores. Two of them are in Kaskar’s name, and five in Parkar’s name. The properties were allegedly acquired with Dawood’s illegal wealth.
In 1998, the government sealed the properties under a law that allows the takeover of properties of smugglers, foreign exchange manipulators and their relatives, reported NDTV.
Kaskar and Parkar challenged the takeover, which was initiated after the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. Ibrahim, who is accused of masterminding the blasts that killed 257 people, had fled the country and various departments had sought to seize his properties.
Kaskar and Parkar moved the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed their challenge in July 1998.
In November 2012, the Supreme Court ordered a status quo in the case. The government had claimed that several opportunities were given to Kaskar and Parkar to show legal sources of income to acquire the properties but no valid document was filed. Parkar died in Mumbai in 2014.
In November, three south Mumbai properties belonging to the don were auctioned for Rs 11.58 crore by the Ministry of Finance, under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act. The three properties were Hotel Raunaq Afroz, also known as Delhi Zaika, Shabnam Guest House and six rooms in Damarwala building. The auction bid was won by Saifi Burhani Upliftment Trust.
In September, authorities in the United Kingdom seized Dawood Ibrahim’s properties in the country. The UK government froze Ibrahim’s hotel in Warwickshire and residential properties across the Midlands.
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