No bidders for Dawood Ibrahim-linked properties in Mumbai auction; first time in a decade

MUMBAI: For the first time in nearly a decade, not a single bidder came forward to buy any of the four properties allegedly owned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's late sister, Haseena Parkar, during an auction held in Mumbai on Tuesday.The four agricultural land parcels, located in Dawood's ancestral village Mumbake in Khed taluka of Ratnagiri district, were among nine properties put up for sale by the office of the competent authority under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (Safema) and the NDPS Act. The auction was conducted under the supervision of competent authority Surabhi Sharma.Along with the Dawood-linked plots, three properties allegedly belonging to relatives of late drug lord Iqbal Mirchi and two seized from other individuals were also up for auction.

An official from the Safema office confirmed the lack of interest, saying, "We will conduct the auction of these properties again in the future."

According to Safema officials, the four Mumbake plots were earlier registered in the name of Dawood's mother, Amina Bi, before being transferred to Parkar. Three of the properties were auctioned on Jan 5, 2024, when two of them were sold -- a 1,730 sq m plot with a reserve price of Rs 1.56 lakh and a 171 sq m plot priced at Rs 15,440.

Delhi-based lawyer Ajay Srivastava had bid Rs 3.28 lakh for the first plot and an eye-popping Rs 2.01 crore for the smaller one -- over 1,300 times its reserve price. Srivastava later said the higher bid was for "numerological reasons", and the sale of the smaller plot was cancelled. The two larger plots, measuring 10,420.5 sq m (Rs 9.4 lakh reserve) and 8,953 sq m (Rs 8 lakh reserve), remained unsold. In Tuesday's auction, those three unsold plots and an additional 2,240 sq m agricultural parcel (reserve price Rs 2.3 lakh) were offered again, this time with a new condition allowing up to a 30% reduction in reserve prices.

Had all four plots been sold, officials estimate they could have fetched around Rs 20 lakh.Among other properties, two agricultural plots in Kashid village, Raigad -- allegedly linked to Iqbal Mirchi's relatives -- with a total reserve price of Rs 11.06 crore and another 10,500 sq m land parcel priced at Rs 4.09 crore were also auctioned. While the costlier plots found no takers, a Kashid resident bought the Rs 4.09-crore plot at the reserve price.A 28.15 sq m flat in Andheri (West), forfeited in a drug case, drew multiple bids and sold for Rs 1.1 crore against a reserve of Rs 66 lakh. But another flat in Surat, measuring 151.6 sq m and seized in a smuggling case, failed to attract any buyers despite a reserve price of Rs 60 lakh.