ED to move for extradition of Mirchi's wife, sons

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate will soon move a special court in Mumbai seeking extradition orders for Hazra Memon, wife of late underworld don Iqbal Mirchi, and her two sons Asif and Junaid. All three are currently staying in the UK and wanted by the agency here in connection with a money laundering case in which former Civil Aviation minister Prafulla Patel has already been questioned.
The agency on Tuesday obtained an open ended non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against Mirchi’s wife and her two sons while a chargesheet has already been filed against them, the two conditions necessary to file for extradition.
This will be the fourth high-profile extradition from the UK pursued by ED after Vijay Mallya, former chairman of Kingfisher Airlines; diamond trader Nirav Modi and former IPL chairman Lalit Modi. While Nirav Modi has been arrested and is in prison in London pending his extradition, Mallya has exhausted all his legal options against his deportation. Lalit Modi is still at large.
The ED had filed a chargesheet in the Iqbal Mirchi money laundering case in December last year and had also attached properties of over Rs 500 crore belonging to the accused, including the two floors in the Ceejay House in Mumbai owned by family members of former Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel. The two floors were in the name of Mirchi’s wife Hazra Memon. Patel was extensively questioned by the agency last year about his financial dealings with Mirchi, once close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
The ED’s investigation later revealed that Mirchi’s sons Asif and Junaid were still running his drug cartel based out of the UK and UAE and had acquired huge properties in the two countries.
The agency had identified “couriers and other witnesses” associated with Mirchi’s sons, running the smuggling and drugs syndicate, and questioned at least five of them since January this year.
One of the “witnesses” gave details of involvement of Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, the promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd’s (DHFL). Both have been arrested by the ED and are presently in judicial custody. Wadhawans have been questioned in connection with the purchase of drug lord’s properties in Mumbai for Rs 225 crore.