Don’s Pakmodia Street shop sold for Rs4.28 cr

Don’s Pakmodia Street shop sold for Rs4.28 cr
Wednesday’s auction at Hotel Diplomat in Colaba – walking distance from Sassoon Docks from where Bhai plied his trade in the eighties – proved that Dawood Ibrahim’s name is still in currency.

On offer on Wednesday were Hotel Rounaq Afroz, which later became Delhi Zaika -- a 45.16 sq mtr eatery at Pakmodia Street, off Bhendi Bazar – a green Hyundai Accent (MH-04 AX-3676) manufactured in 2000 and parked in a decrepit state at a police station in Ghatkopar; tenancy rights to a room situated in Mahavir Building in Matunga (all three were touted as Dawood’s properties); and four plots of agricultural land.

The auction was conducted by a private firm under the SAFEMA (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators [Forfeiture of Properties] Act, 1976 and only eight bidders turned up for the auction; some others chose to submit sealed bids or make their offers online – publicity was perhaps the last thing they were looking for considering they were making a bid for Don’s properties.

Former journalist S Balakrishnan won the rights to the eatery for Rs 4.28 crore even though the reserve price was Rs 1.18 crore (which is close to the market rate in the area). Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust bid Rs 4.27 crore; an online bidder offered Rs 1.52 crore and a sealed tender quoted 2.47 crore for the same property.

Balakrishnan, or Bala as he is popularly known among journalists, plans to turn the property into an English-speaking and computer coaching centre for the less privileged residents of Pakmodia Street.

“Honour of the motherland has been upheld and I am happy to say that soon we will start an office of the Desh Seva Samiti inside the structure.”

Desh Seva Samiti is an NGO that Bala runs, which works for child welfare and women empowerment.

Even though Bala admitted that he did not have enough money to make the payment, he was sure that “Mumbaikars have so much generosity that once they are convinced with the honesty of the person they will come forward and donate the money”.

“They will help me to collect the amount… Our NGO has broken all the FDs in bank for the earnest deposit of Rs 30 lakh.”

The drama started around 10 am when a swarm of journalists descended on Hotel Diplomat to get soundbytes of the eight bidders; curious onlookers gathered quickly as the eight began to file in. One of the bidders – Veena Desai, who flew down from Surat to bid for an agricultural land also part of the auction – could not enter the auction hall as she had not completed certain technical processes.

The seven bidders then entered the hall where the auction was to take place. First item on the agenda was the green Hyundai Accent – and the man who won the bid came dressed in saffron and was identified as Swami Chakrapani, president of the Hindu Mahasabha. He was accompanied by Indira Tiwari, secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha.

The reserve price of the car – which is lying in the station with burst tyres and broken windshield -- was Rs 15,700 but Chakrapani got it for Rs 32,000, probably to make a statement. He quoted wild figures to the media soon after making the successful bid, saying he bought it for 3.32 lakh just to prove a point that he was not afraid of Dawood.

But the car was manufactured in 2000 and could not have been Dawood’s by any stretch of imagination.


From being an under study of Haji Mastan and controlling the smuggling and sale of gold and electronic items, Dawood had fled the country in the eighties when he started dreaming of bigger things in life and the police started tightening the screws on him. The 1993 blasts that killed 257 people made Dawood India’s most wanted man.

Chakrapani was livid, obviously. “Before coming here, we had made enquiries from New Delhi. We were told that this car belongs to Dawood and so we filed the earnest deposit of Rs 4,000. The reserve price was Rs 15,700 but we got it for Rs 32,000. If they want to fool us by not informing us about the real owner, we will put Dawood’s picture inside the vehicle and burn it,” he said.


The final bidder has to make the remaining payment within 30 days or he/she will lose the earnest deposit.
It wasn’t clear whether Chakrapani would pay the remaining Rs 28,000 and take possession of the vehicle. But for a mere Rs 4,000, he got a lot of air time.