NAVI MUMBAI: The family home of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim at Mumbake in Ratnagiri district, which has now been purchased by Supreme Court advocate Ajay Srivastava, is likely to be turned into a school.
Srivastava (59), who took possession of the house last Friday, says the school will follow “gurukul or madrasa” teaching systems.
He said the school will be formed under the Sanatan Dharam Pathshala Trust. “The mansion will now be known as Sri Chitragupta Bhawan. This ideal place will strive to revive gurukul or madrasa culture, wherein children will be imparted with teachings from history,” Srivastava added.
The mansion once served as Dawood’s family holiday home. Dawood’s father, Ibrahim Kaskar, who was an official in the Mumbai crime branch, is said to have built it around 1979-80, when Dawood was fast rising as a criminal. The house now lies in ruins.
“People stay away from these properties. The Dawood family used to stay there whenever they came to the village,” said Akbar Duduke, a local resident.
The ground-plus-two structure stands on a plot measuring 29,000 square feet. Another land parcel measuring over 27,000 square feet, dotted with alphonso mango trees, is located opposite this. The properties were auctioned by the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act or SAFEMA authorities.
“The registration formalities were completed last week, after which I took possession of the properties. The structure will undergo renovation,” said Srivastava.
“I was threatened by Chhota Shakeel in 2001 to refrain from making payment after winning the property auction. It’s my constitutional right to participate in a government auction. I am not against any religion,” added the advocate, who had once dug up the pitch at the erstwhile Feroz Shah Kotla ground (now renamed as Arun Jaitley Stadium) in Delhi in 1999 in protest against the India-Pakistan cricket match.
Srivastava has also purchased other properties that belonged to Dawood. In connection with one such property, he had even turned up at Dawood’s sister, Haseena Parker’s residence to hand over the court notice.
