The D Sultan

In 2003, the US government declared Dawood Ibrahim a Global Terrorist. He is currently on the wanted list of Interpol for Cheating, Criminal Conspiracy and Organised Crime Syndicated. He was No. 3 on the Forbes’ World’s Top 10 most dreaded criminals list of 2011, rising from the 4th position in 2008.

Born as Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, he is the leader of Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company founded in Mumbai. Indian court has recently issued a warrant on Ibrahim for sport fixing crime in the Indian Premier League. He is accused of heading a vast and sprawling illegal empire in and against India and Indians. After the 1993 Mumbai bombings, which Ibrahim allegedly organised and financed, he became India’s most wanted man.

 

Dawood’s empire of extortion

Once a street urchin and the son of a Mumbai police constable, today he is running his multi-billion-rupee empire from Dubai. It thrives mainly on extortion, contract killings, kidnappings, drug pushing, and counterfeiting currency. It mediates in business disputes, evicting tenants from old buildings and clearing land for construction purposes.
Right early in life, Dawood Ibrahim realised there is big money in crime. His early exploits landed him in trouble, but his father’s position as a policeman saved him. Soon the Mumbai underworld started taking note of him.
During the Emergency in 1975, he and his brother Shabir were put behind bars, where they met the Bombay underworld dons Haji Mastan and Yusuf Patel. On release, the two brothers started working as landing agents of smuggled gold and silver for these dons.

Then Dawood formed his own gang, which grew into a mega crime network over the years.  Ibrahim’s interests soon led him to Bollywood where he became a major film financier.  At his lavish parties, there was never a shortage of the mega stars of the day.  “They wouldn’t dare refuse an invitation,” says a friend, who maintains that those who opted out on account of shooting schedules would suddenly find their dates had been cancelled or postponed.

Growing Hindu-Muslim tension, fuelled by other underworld dons, which climaxed after the Babri mosque demolition, changed everything.  The ensuing blasts in Mumbai, and the communal riots triggered by the underworld itself, caused the Dawood Ibrahim gang to splinter.  One of his top lieutenants, Chota Rajan, often described by Ibrahim as one of his ‘nauratans,’ (nine jewels) defected.

Ibrahim was accused of masterminding the blasts, even though he was out of town at the time.  He could never return to India.  Dubai, which might have been a natural alternative residence, was ruled out because of an Interpol alert for Dawood’s arrest – the UAE and India have an extradition treaty.

Thus Dawood fled to Pakistan, managing also to subsequently smuggle his family, comprising his wife, four daughters and a son, and certain close associates and their families out of Mumbai.  (One daughter, 12, subsequently died of malaria and is buried in Pakistan).  Today they are all Pakistani passport holders.

Ibrahim lives life king-size.  His home is a palatial house spread over 6,000 square yards, boasting a pool, tennis courts, snooker room and a private, hi-tech gym.  He wears designer clothes, drives top of the line Mercedes’ and luxurious four-wheel drives, sports a half-a-million rupee Patek Phillipe wristwatch, and showers money on starlets and prostitutes. 

Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim, who reportedly fled to Pakistan after being given bail by the Dubai authorities, is a key figure in the ‘D’ group of companies, which has businesses not only in Pakistan, but also in the Gulf and in some south African countries.

According to a dossier prepared on D-company, five brothers and three sisters of Dawood are running his multi-million-rupee empire from Dubai. They lead a lavish lifestyle and own more than three houses in Dubai alone. Apart from Anees, Dawood’s other brothers are Noorul Haque alias Noora, Mustaqim, Humayun and Iqbal Hassan.

His sixth brother, Shabir, was killed by the Pathan brothers of the Karim Lala gang in 1981. Dawood is believed to have learnt the tricks of the trade from Karim, who once ruled the Mumbai underworld along with Haji Mastan.

His three Dubai-based sisters are Zaitoon, Farzana and Mumtaz. Only one sister, Hasina, is still in India, in Mumbai. Hasina’s husband Ibrahim Parker was murdered in a Mumbai restaurant some time ago.

Kings Video is in the name of Anees, who manages the D-company’s business. While Noora runs Choice Departmental Store, Humayun owns Moins Readymade Garments and Iqbal Hassan operates an electronic shop in the name of Al Barka Electronics. All these shops are in Dubai.

This is the story of India’s most wanted man Dawood Ibrahim – whom Pakistan shelters.