Journalist-turned-activist S Balakrishnan on Wednesday emerged as the top bidder for a South Mumbai eatery once owned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The Hindu Mahasabha won the gangster's green sedan in an auction held at a city hotel, PTI reported.
Balakrishnan had reportedly bid Rs 4.28 crore for the food joint. He plans to start a computer education centre for less privileged children on the premises. Balakrishnan participated in the auction despite having received a threat from the don's aide Chhota Shakeel, the report said.
Bidding on behalf of the Hindu Mahasabha, president of the party Swami Chakrapani won Ibrahim's Hyundai Accent sedan, which was priced at Rs 15,700, for Rs 3.32 lakh. He said they will convert the rundown vehicle into an ambulance.
Four other properties owned by the fugitive gangster outside Maharashtra were also auctioned, but details of these and their bidders are unknown. The winner of the tenancy rights for Ibrahim's room in Mumbai's Matunga locality was also not revealed. The government had appointed a private firm to conduct the auction under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Properties) Act, 1976.
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