Dawood''s Mumbai properties auctioned

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, November 14

After years of unsuccessfully getting bidders to buy three properties belonging to gangster Dawood Ibrahim, the government finally managed to get the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) to purchase them for a total of Rs 11.58 crore.

The properties, a restaurant named Delhi Zaika also called Raunaq Afroz, a building called Shabnam Guest House and six rooms in the Dambarwala building were put on auction by the Competant Authority under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act (SAFEMA). The properties were confiscated by the authorities under the provisions of SAFEMA.

While the Raunaq Afroz hotel went for Rs 4.53 crore, Shabnam Guest House and the six rooms in the Dambarwala building were sold for Rs  3.52 crore and 3.53 crore respectively, according to officials.

Past auctions had failed as few bidders showed up or potential buyers could not raise the funds for the purchase.

The police however feel that the Dawood Ibrahim gang may have threatened potential buyers.

According to sources here, the six rooms in the Dambarwala building housed the gangster and his relatives before they left India in the late 1980s. The restaurant, Raunaq Afroz, was one of the earliest properties allegedly purchased by the gangster.

Finance ministry officials say SBUT was the only serious bidder for the properties with others not appearing to be serious enough. The auction was held at the Indian Merchants' Chamber in downtown Mumbai amidst tight security.

SBUT, an organisation headed by the head priest of the Dawoodi Bohra community (no connection with Ibrahim), is redeveloping the Bhendi Bazaar area in which these properties fall. In a statement, SBUT said it had bid for these buildings "to ensure the safety of the families living in these buildings and to carry on with the redevelopment project, we participated in the bidding and acquired these properties".