Seven properties owned by the fugitive gangster, three in Mumbai and four outside the city will go under the hammer today at a Mumbai hotel. (AP Photos)
Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's seized properties will be auctioned in Mumbai today. But due to fear of the most wanted terrorist still prevalent, many are asking if the auction is a farce and whether in reality ownership of these properties will be transferred.
Seven properties owned by the fugitive gangster, three in Mumbai and four outside the city will go under the hammer today at a Mumbai hotel.
When Dawood Ibrahim fled India, he left behind property worth crores, whose value has gone up significantly in the past few years.
Authorities are now auctioning his property under the Smugglers & Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Properties) Act.
Among the bidder are lawyers and former journalists.
Delhi-based lawyer Ajay Shrivastava won a bid for an industrial unit owned by Dawood in 2001. Even after 14 years the lawyer is yet to get the possession of property as the fugitive gangster's late sister Hasina Parkar had challenged his claim to the property in court.
"Income Tax department said this, not directly though, that you have to take its possession. We don't have the courage to do so; if we had the courage we would have done it," Mr Srivastava, who did not participate in auction this time, told NDTV.
Former journalist S Balakrishnan, who runs an NGO, has participated in the auction this time as he wants to set up an education centre for poor at Pakmodia Street that was sealed in 2013.
"I got a message from Chhota Shakeel saying that what you are up to. The intention behind the message was quite clear, but our decision of taking part in the auction is because if we don't participate in the auction then it is a shameful thing for the country," S Balakrishnan told NDTV.
A popular restaurant which was situated on the property has now been shifted to another place in the same locality.
"When the controversy happened, we left the place and started off in a new place. So, what is happening now is that people are talking about Delhi Zaika being on Dawood's property, Delhi Zaika being auctioned," says owner Aamir Siddiqui.