The Centre on Friday attached a house in Nagpada belonging to gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar under the Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, as none of her relatives could prove that the flat was bought using money obtained through legal sources.

Parkar died in 2014. Section 68F of SAFEMA empowers the authority to attach properties of family members and the relatives of a fugitive.

Seizing Dawood’s properties is part of India’s effort to curb the gang’s operations in the country.

Police sources said a notice from the Centre has been pasted on the flat in Garden Hall building.

“Soon, the legal procedure to transfer the ownership of the property will be completed, in agreement with Dawood’s kin. The flat will then be auctioned,” sources said.

In April 2018, the Supreme Court passed an order clearing the way for seizure of Dawood’s seven properties in Nagpada.

The Central Government had maintained in the apex court that these properties belonged to Dawood and were acquired using ill-gotten income from his crime business. Dawood’s mother Amina and sister Haseena took over the properties, after the gangster escaped the country in the late 80s. Before passing the order, the court gave several opportunities to the Dawood family to prove the properties were bought through legitimate source of income.

Acting on the court’s order, last year, the government auctioned a number of properties belonging to Dawood. They were bought by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) in public auction.

First Published: Mar 09, 2019 00:49 IST