UP Man Buys Dawood Ibrahim’s Mumbai Property, Fights 23-Year-Long Battle For Possession

On n Uttar Pradesh man, who purchased a property of mafia don Dawood Ibrahim in Mumbai in a 2001 auction, has finally got its ownership rights following a long battle of 23 years, according to reports.

Hemant Jain, 57, who set his sights on a 144-square-foot shop in the city’s Nagpada area when he was 34, had seen a chance to defy the underworld’s shadow by purchasing the property.

“I bid for the property after reading in a newspaper that Dawood’s properties weren’t attracting buyers,” he was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Hemant Jain’s Journey

The UP man had bought the property in September 2001 in an auction held by the income tax department by bidding Rs 2 lakh for the shop on the Jayraj Bhai Street, TOI reported.

However, his bliss was short-lived as he claimed that the officials misled him after the purchase stating that there was a ban on the transfer of Centre-owned properties.

He said that he later found out that no such ban existed. From that point onward, bureaucratic hurdles multiplied rapidly. The Income Tax Department asserted that the “original files were missing,” effectively stalling the ownership transfer process.

He wrote several letters to the Prime Minister’s Office – spanning tenures of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi – however, no significant progress was made, TOI reported.

Property Disappears By 2017

By 2017, the property file had disappeared entirely, and Jain was instructed to pay stamp duty calculated on the current market value, which had skyrocketed to over Rs 23 lakh. Adding to his burden, registration fees and penalties further escalated his financial distress.

“Since the property was bought in the auction, the stamp duty should not have been calculated as per the market value. I kept following up with the registrar’s office for several years but received no response,” he was quoted as saying by SRK Nation

Jain paid Rs 1.5 lakh in stamp duty and penalties and finally on December 19 last year, the property was registered in his name.

“I won’t abandon this fight. Now that the property is in my name, I will also secure possession,” he said.

However, the victory remains incomplete. The shop is still under the control of alleged associates of Dawood, who have converted the space into a lathe machine workshop.

“Authorities told me to let go of the property and live in peace,” he said. “But we villagers are not easily intimidated. A man from the village is like a banyan tree – steadfast and unyielding against all storms.”