Dawood Ibrahim's Childhood Home In Maharashtra's Ratnagiri To Be Auctioned Today

With a combined worth of Rs 19.2 lakh, the properties include a mango orchard and the house where Dawood Ibrahim grew up with his siblings.

File photo of Dawood Ibrahim

Four properties under the name of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s mother Amina Bi will be auctioned on Thursday in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. The properties in Khed Taluka will be auctioned under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Act (SAFEMA), 1976. 

With a combined worth of Rs 19.2 lakh, the properties include a mango orchard and the house where Dawood Ibrahim grew up with his siblings, media website Times Now reported. 

#WATCH | Maharashtra | 1993 Mumbai bomb blast accused Dawood Ibrahim's four properties to be auctioned at the SAFEMA office under Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance. pic.twitter.com/MTIxUwIyVT

— ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2024

The deadline to make the earnest money deposit for the properties that are being auctioned by the Union Ministry of Finance was 4 PM on Wednesday. While the turnout is still unclear, one Delhi-based lawyer and former Shiv Sainik Ajay Shrivastava told media website NDTV that he would "definitely" show up.  "I had taken part in the auction in 2001 to get the fear of Dawood Ibrahim out of people's hearts, and a few people came forward after that," he said, confirming his participation in Thursday's auction. 

The first time a Dawood Ibrahim property was auctioned in 2000, no one participated, due to fear of the MHA-designated terrorist. 

Taking part in one of these auctions can get one fame and the tag of a "patriot", it would be a tedious job to actually get the property itself, often because of threats, legal complications, and red tape. 

In 2001, Ajay Shrivastava bid for (and won) two of Dawood Ibrahim's shops in order to bring down the fear of the underworld don's name. But for more than 20 years, he has not been able to get possession of the shops. Continuous threats allegedly by Dawood’s gang made it impossible for him to get anywhere near the property without police protection. 

Delhi-based businessman Piyush Jain, who won two shops in the next auction, had a similar experience. He, too, could not get possession of any of the properties he won in the auction. Like Ajay, he struggled to get the property registered under his name and was forced to make rounds in Mumbai courts. 

Shrivastava had also bid for and won an ancestral bungalow belonging to Dawood in 2020, reported NDTV. He said that a Sanatan Dharm Pathshala Trust has been set up in place of it and the construction would start soon.