UN-designated global terror financer and the most-wanted gangster in India, Dawood Ibrahim, lives in Karachi, his nephew Alishah Parkar told the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Alishah Parkar is the son of Haseena Parkar, Dawood's deceased sister. He added that Dawood left India around 1986.
“I was not born when he moved to Karachi and neither I nor my family members are in touch with him. Occasionally, on Eid, Diwali and other festive occasions, Mehjabeen Dawood Ibrahim -- my aunt and my maternal uncle get in touch with my wife Ayesha and my sisters,” said Parkar in a statement.
The revelations made by Parkar would help India's case against Pakistan that the neighbouring country harbours terrorists who have killed hundreds of Indians.
Here is how Dawood rose from a Mumbai slum to become the ‘D Company’ chief
1955:Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was born in Mumbai in 1955. He grew up in Dongri, a slum in central Mumbai. His father Ibrahim was a police constable but he got involved in theft, robbery and fraud from an early age.
1974:His first 'break' came when he was just 19. Dawood became a close aide of Haji Mastan (Mumbai's biggest don back then) after he jumped a courier and banked $200,000 in the process. Sensing an opportunity, a senior Mumbai police officer asked Dawood to take on Mastan. The goal was to end the reign of Mastan. An ambitious Dawood, who didn't want to continue playing second fiddle to Mastan, launched a vicious war against Mastan and his allies.
1981:Three assassins cornered Dawood and Shabir at a gas station. While Shabir was killed, Dawood escaped.
1984:In the span of three years, Dawood killed all three assassins involved in his brother's killing. While the Mumbai police had turned Dawood against Mastan, the violence had become too much to handle. So, they indicted Dawood for murder in 1984. Later, he fled to Dubai where he lived in a bungalow called the 'White House’. Dawood hosted crime bosses and Bollywood stars in his luxurious home and asked his lieutenant Chhota Rajan to run his ‘D Company’.
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1991:As India opened its market to foreign nations, black marketing became outdated. Things like Japanese TVs or Chinese radios could now be bought legally. Gradually, the number of vessels containing Dawood's consignments reduced on the docks in Mumbai. The same year, police and D Company members engaged in a heavy gun battle. This was widely covered by the national media.
1993:A year after a Hindu mob demolished the Babri mosque, 13 bombs jolted Mumbai. The bomb blasts killed about 250 people. Subsequently, the FBI and Interpol placed the don on their most-wanted lists and he had to flee Dubai to escape arrest. He reportedly flew to Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city. In lieu of giving him refuge, Dawood bailed out its Central Bank with a cash loan. He also armed the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group waging war against India.
2008:Dawood Ibrahim was designated as a global terrorist in 2003 by India and the United States, with a reward of $25 million on his head for his alleged role in the 1993 Bombay bombings, NDTV reported. He is also accused in multiple cases of extortion, murder, and smuggling.
2008:Hafiz Saeed’sLashkar-e-Taiba, banned by Pakistan, carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The gunmen carried out blasts and raids across Mumbai— including a four-day siege of its iconic Taj Mahal hotel killing scores of citizens. Dawood smuggled the men into India, the Esquire magazine reported quoting insiders.
2013:News outlet India Today confirmed that Dawood was running an IPL betting racket through his brother Anees. Later, in 2018, a Dawood goon was quoted by the media saying that D Company is involved in betting on two-thirds of all games played worldwide.
2015:Chhota Rajan was arrested in Bali, Indonesia. However, Dawood has managed to remain elusive so far.
Dawood's D Company isn't a street-fighting gang anymore. It has become a transnational criminal organisation. Besides South Asia, D Company has also become a migraine for some African nations as Dawood has invested in Boko Haram, an UN-designated terrorist organisation based in northeastern Nigeria.
ALSO READ: Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar arrested in drug case; NCB to get his custody on Thursday
