Dawood Ibrahim's 3 properties auctioned for Rs 11.58 crore

Mumbai: Three south Mumbai properties of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim were bought by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) for Rs 11.58 crore in an auction conducted by officials of a Union finance ministry authority, SAFEMA (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Forfeiture of Property Act) on Tuesday.

The properties included the two-storied ‘Shabnam Guest House’ at Yakub Street in Bhendi Bazaar, Hotel Raunak Afroz (now known as hotel Delhi Zaika) and six flats at the Damarwala building on Pakmodia Street, where Dawood had stayed before fleeing India in the early eighties.

According to the SBUT, the three properties fall under its ongoing Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project and are unfit for living. It participated in the bidding process to integrate them in the redevelopment project.  

This is the second time in two years the government attempted to auction the three properties belonging to Dawood in Mumbai.

In 2015, Hotel Rounak Afroz had gone under the hammer for Rs 4.28 crore. However, the bidder could not arrange the bid amount then. A junked car was also auctioned for Rs 32,000, which was later set ablaze and disposed off. The auctioned assets are among properties controlled by Dawood and his aides and had remained unsold since the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Dawood allegedly masterminded the blasts along with co-mastermind Tiger Memon with the help of Pakistan’s spy agency the Inter-Services Intelligence, after they were attached by the authorities.  

An official from SAFEMA, Ganesh Selvan told this paper, “The three properties have been auctioned to the SBUT, and they will work on it for redevelopment. The property was sold to the highest bid/bidder among all the three methods, (e-auction, public auction, and tenders) provided the highest bid was more than the Reserve Price.”

An SBUT spokesperson said, “The three properties (Shabnam Guest House, Damarwala building and Hotel Raunaq Afroz) fall under our ongoing Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project. These buildings are in dilapidated condition and unfit for living. Therefore 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.”

As per the terms of the auction, the sealed tenders in the prescribed form were to reach the office of the SAFEMA by November 10 by 4 pm. The properties were to be inspected from 11 am to 1 pm on November 7.