Dawood's assets under the scanner: Government examines 1,000 properties 'worth Rs 80,000 crore' after locks are broken



The government is going to check the status of properties believed to belong to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim after it found that the locks on one attached property had been broken, allegedly by the gangster's brother.



Officials of the Central government, working under the ambit of the Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act of 1976, also known as SAFEMA, have decided to check the status of all properties belonging to Dawood across the country which they have already attached, and also survey several more that have come to their notice over the past few years.



Survey: The government has decided to launch a check of all of Dawood Ibrahim's (right) properties after the locks on one of the properties had been broken, allegedly by Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar (left)



Management: Very few properties have been auctioned and many are not even cleared for auction due to litigation

If underworld sources are to be believed, these properties - including those of which the government is unaware - are together worth Rs 80,000 crore.



The decision to conduct this survey was taken when officials discovered that the locks they had put on an eatery owned by Dawood had been broken, allegedly by Iqbal Kaskar, the don's brother.



When Mail Today visited Hotel Zaika in Pakmodia Street, South Mumbai, the shutter was down and an official notice, under SAFEMA, was pasted on it that read: "This property belongs to Central government ... for any emergency contact SAFEMA office in Mumbai."



Iqbal Kaskar had rented out this hotel for Rs 17,500 per month and a deposit of Rs 1 lakh.



Following the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, all property belonging to Dawood, reportedly the main perpetrator of the terror attack, was confiscated under SAFEMA in 2001.

Since then, very few properties have been auctioned and many are not even cleared for auction due to litigation.



But sources in the Mumbai underworld told Mail Today that Dawood Ibrahim possesses at least 1,000 properties across India.



"In South Mumbai itself there would be more than 100 properties that government officials are unaware of," sources claimed.



The don's real estate holdings are in the form of undeveloped land, bungalows, residential and commercial projects, malls, five-star hotels and new under-construction/redevelopment buildings.



When Mail Today visited Hotel Zaika in Pakmodia Street, South Mumbai, the shutter was down and an official notice, under SAFEMA, was pasted on it

As of now, these properties are managed by sleeping operators based in Mumbai and other cities.



Sources claimed Dawood has properties in many cities, including Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Ahmedabad, Surat, Nav-sari, Porbundar, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Haryana, Noida, Kerala, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa, Lucknow and Delhi.



It would be difficult to believe these figures as there is official government data on it, but if underworld sources are to be believed, "these Dawood properties are worth Rs 80,000 crore".



The numbers, however, are large enough to give government officials sleepless nights. The competent authority has ordered a survey of these properties, but a question arises: Where are the staff to do it?



Officials told Mail Today: "All SAFEMA offices in the country are facing staff shortages. It would be difficult to conduct a survey at all these properties within a given deadline."



However, the officials clarified that though it is "an uphill task, it is "not impossible ", and that they "would conduct the survey at any cost".





