Push to put Dawood’s Khed assets on block

Mateen.Hafeez@timesgroup.com 

 

Mumbai: Barely two weeks after underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar’s flat was auctioned for Rs 1.8 crore here, the anti-smuggling agency wants to put the remaining 14 properties in the name of Haseena and her mother in their native town, Mumbke, a village in Khed in Ratnagiri district, on the block.

The properties include a ground- plus-two-storey bungalow where Dawood was a frequent visitor and a plot allocated for a petrol pump (in the name of Haseena). The authorities under the Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Manipulator’s Act (Safema) have written to the district valuation officer (DVO) in Pune to evaluate the price of the 14 properties. All the properties registered in the name of Dawood’s family are said to have been bought with proceeds of crimes.

While two properties in Khed are registered under Haseena’s name, the remaining are in the name of Dawood’s mother Amina Bi. The bungalow land was bought by Dawood’s father, Ibrahim Hasan Kaskar, who retired as head constable from Mumbai crime branch. Dawood and his siblings, who stayed in Mumbai’s Pakmodia Street, used to visit the bungalow, built in the mid-80s, frequently and stay for weeks. It has been lying vacant since 1993, when most of the Dawood family members fled India after the serial blasts killed 257 in the city. Dawood had left in the late 80s.

In 2016, Mumbke’s village panchayat had declared the bungalow a dilapidated structure. There was a proposal to turn it into a school for village children but it didn’t work out due to the shaky structure. It has become quite notorious, and people take selfies with the bungalow, said a source.

Safema sources said they want the auction this year and have sped up the process. After evaluation, a detailed report will be sent to them. The auction will be advertised in newspapers. “We still don’t know the total value of these properties. It will be clear once we get the report,” said an officer.

After the properties were confiscated under Safema, show cause notices were issued and the Dawood family challenged the confiscation all the way up to the Supreme Court, but lost the cases. “The Dawood family could not prove before the courts that the money used to buy these properties were earned through legal means,” said an officer.

The authorities welcomed the participation of several bidders for the Dawood properties. “Earlier, people were scared. Now they are coming forward and it’s a sign that the fear factor is vanishing,” said a source.

The Times of India, April 23, 2019

Nagpada flat owned by Dawood’s sister auctioned for Rs 1.8 crore

Mateen Hafeez I TNN 

Apr 2, 2019, 04.30 AM IST

MUMBAI: A 600 sq ft flat belonging to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar in Nagpada was sold for Rs 1.8 crore in a public auction at the Y B Chavan auditorium in south Mumbai on Monday. This is the fifth property allegedly earned through proceeds of Dawood’s crime that has been auctioned in the last two years.

The flat occupying the first floor of the eight-storey Gordon Hall Apartments near the Nagpada police station was attached under the Smugglers And Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture Of Property) Act, 1976 (Safema), and was lying vacant for a couple of months since Parkar’s children had shifted. It’s the same building where Dawood’s younger brother, Iqbal Kaskar, was arrested on extortion charges by the Thane anti-extortion cell in September 2017.

Bidders for the flat were asked to deposit Rs 25 lakh as earnest money and taken for an inspection on March 25. The one who won submitted his bid in a sealed envelope, and the authorities refused to share his name citing safety concerns.

The flat had come under the scanner after Dawood decamped, and was forfeited. Parkar challenged it, but lost at every forum till the Supreme Court. She had failed to prove that the flat was purchased with money earned through legal sources. Her family had to vacate the flat after the SC order.

Parkar had shifted to the Gordon Hall flat after her husband Ismail was shot dead in the mid-80s by rival Arun Gawli’s gang. In 1995, Dawood avenged Ismail’s death by getting the suspects shot inside JJ Hospital. Parkar’s older son, Danish, met with an accident and died in 2007. She died in the flat when she was 55 after a heart attack on June 7, 2014.

“We have auctioned five different properties under Safema on Monday, including this flat. The base price for this 600 sq ft carpet area flat was 1.7 crore. Overall, we got around 20 to 25 bidders for all the five properties. The highest bid for this flat was Rs 1.8 crore and an individual won the bid,” said Hari Govind Singh, Competent Authority for Safema (Western Zone).

The flat, registered in Parkar’s name, is believed to be the place from where she ran her rackets. She was arrested in 2005 for extorting Rs 1 crore from a real estate agent, Vinod Avlani. A Delhi-based lawyer, Bhupendra Bhardwaj, who has been applying to buy Dawood properties for two years, failed to make it this time too.

The Times of India, April 2, 2019