Mumbai: The Union Government has formed a task force to identify and dispose off properties belonging to fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in the Mumbai metropolis.

The eight-member task force, set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), will consist of representatives of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Mumbai Police, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), etc.

"The joint secretary of the MHA will be convenor of the task force, and the committee will primarily concentrate on disposing off existing Dawood properties and identifying new ones," Minister for Home R R Patil said today (Mar 2, 2004).

The Maharashtra police is being represented by joint police commissioner (crime), Mumbai police, Satya Pal Singh in the committee.

So far, over three-dozen properties of Dawood Ibrahim have been identified in the city.

The Income Tax department attempted to dispose of some of them, but met with little success as it did not receive any bid.

The committee will suggest ways to dispose off Dawood's attached properties and identify others held by the don, in the name of his relatives or 'benami'.