Three Dawood Ibrahim properties sold to Saifi Burhani Upliftment Trust

INDIA - OCTOBER 02: Dawood Ibrahim, the mafia leader in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ( mafia don ) (Photo by Bhawan Singh/The India Today Group/Getty Images)

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday auctioned three of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s Maharashtra-based properties to the Saifi Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT).

The trust, run by the Bohra community, won bids for the three properties which includes two residences — six rooms of the Damarwala building and the Shabnam guest house — and a restaurant in Bhendi Bazaar named Hotel Raunaq Afroz (also known as Delhi Zaika).

Though the exact auction prices are yet to be disclosed, reports suggest the Rounaq Afroz restaurant was auctioned for Rs 4.53 crore. The Damarwala property was bagged for Rs 3.53 crore and the Shabnam guest house fetched Rs 3.52 crore.

Authorities had seized these properties, after Dawood fled India in the 1990s, under the provisions of Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, also known as SAFEMA.

On Tuesday, authorities carried out the auction at the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Churchgate, Mumbai. This is the second time in two years the government attempted to auction the properties belonging to Dawood Ibrahim — the brains behind the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

Close to 27 appeals were filed by people claiming to be “long term tenants” of the Damarwala Building and Shabnam Guesthouse. The Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property, however, had dismissed the appeals under SAFEMA.