Court receiver acquires Dawood's properties

A court receiver on Tuesday took possession of moveable and immoveable properties of Sara shopping centre and Sahara shopping complexes, allegedly belonging to gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

Policemen stood guard outside the complexes, located opposite Crawford market in south Mumbai, as the receiver started making an inventory of the properties attached by the court on Monday.

A Mumbai court had asked the receiver to submit a list of the properties by June 2. The court had also asked the executive engineer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to assist the receiver in making sketches of the properties.

The police and civic body have crossed swords over the demolition of these complexes. While the civic body wants to demolish these structures because they are illegal, the police wants them there as they are valuable pieces of evidence. The court has yet to give its ruling.

Police stumbled upon evidence of the underworld's alleged involvement in these properties after the arrest of Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother Iqbal Hassan Ibrahim Shaikh and his associates -- Abdul Rehman Abdul Gafoor Shaikh and Abdul Sattar Haji Hiva Radhanpur.