Mumbai: On a plea made by Mumbai police, a special court on May 19 attached the controversial Sara shopping centre and Sahara shopping complex, allegedly belonging to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his brother Iqbal and two others.

Both the shopping centres located opposite Crawford market in south Mumbai stand on land owned by Central Public Works Department.

According to police, they were illegally constructed by Dawood and his henchmen in connivance with civic body officials.

The attachment order was delivered by designated judge A P Bhangale on an application moved by prosecutor Rohini Salian.

Senior inspector of Azad maidan police station has been appointed court receiver of both the shopping centres attached by the court. He will make a list of moveable and immoveable properties and submit a report to the court on June 2.

The court also directed executive engineer of civic body to help the court receiver in making a sketch of the attached properties.

In a related development, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) moved the court urging for demolition of these two shopping complexes on the ground that they were illegal, which however, the police opposed citing both the shopping centres as valuable pieces of evidence.

Both the shopping centres had become the centre of controversy after the arrest of Iqbal Hassan Ibrahim Shaikh and his two associates, Abdul Rehman Abdul Gafoor Shaikh and Abdul Sattar Haji Hiva Radhanpur.

The three are facing the charge of forcibly evicting a woman from her hut that obstructed the entrance of Sara shopping centre, allegedly owned by Dawood Ibrahim and his associate Chhota Shakeel.

Police alleged that the case was the tip of the ice-berg and the modus operandi of the trio was to help the Dawood Ibrahim gang in channelising funds into the real estate by acquiring old buildings and converting them into multiplexes.

Iqbal was deported from Dubai last month and was arrested in a murder case in which he has already secured bail. This is the second case in which he has been arrested.

The court had earlier restrained the civic body from demolishing the controversial Sara shopping centre allegedly owned by Dawood Ibrahim.

PTI