Three family members of Iqbal Mirchi declared fugitive economic offenders, properties to be seized

MUMBAI: A special PMLA court today declared late drug smuggler Iqbal Memon alias Mirchi's wife, Hajra, and their two sons, Asif and Junaid, fugitive economic offenders and said that their properties will be seized.
“Their properties in India and abroad are directed to be seized by following due process of law. The right of the Enforcement Directorate is reserved for filing supplementary application to provide further list of the properties of the accused if they are found involved under Section 13 of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018,” the special judge said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed an application before the court in December. It also requested the court for confiscation of the Mirchi family's 15 properties, including two floors of Ceejay House in Worli. The collective worth of these properties is Rs 96 crore.
Other accused who were earlier declared offenders are businessmen Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.
The ED had provisionally attached the family’s properties worth Rs 798 crore in the country and abroad under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. It had filed a chargesheet against them.
The court had issued open-ended non-bailable warrants against Hajra, Asif and Junaid.
The ED, investigating a money laundering case against the Mirchi family and DHFL promoters Dheeraj and Kapil Wadhawan, requested the competent authorities for confiscation of the properties which Mirchi had allegedly managed to free from government attachment in 2005 fraudulently under SAFEMA and the NDPS Act.
It is alleged that Michi had purchased properties in the country and abroad through his drug profits. He allegedly ran a nightclub in Worli from where he initially managed his drugs business. He fled the country to avoid arrest in the drugs case and the government authorities started confiscating his properties. Mirchi's friends helped prevent the authorities from confiscating many of these.
The three Worli buildings, Rabia Mansion, Mariam Lodge and Sea View are examples of these. Mirchi had bought these from the Mohammad Yusuf Trustin 1990. The trust representative claimed in court that these were trust properties to prevent their attachment by the government in 2005. In 2010, Mirchi sold these to Wadhawan-controlled Sunblink Realty.