BMC official held in Dawood property case

Investigations into the Sara Shopping Centre took a curious twist on Wednesday, with the arrest of a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC...

Investigations into the Sara Shopping Centre took a curious twist on Wednesday, with the arrest of a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) assistant engineer.

Assistant Engineer Narendra Rajbhar (42) is with the civic Building Proposals Department and was arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999, for alleged links with the underworld. Rajbhar was picked up from his residence at Borivali.

According to the police, Rajbhar has been arrested for conniving with the underworld and helping gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his associates construct the Sara and Sahara shopping centres near Crawford Market. The complexes were illegally built on land belonging to the PWD, valued at more than Rs 400 crore.

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The controversy surrounding the shopping centres began on March 5, when the police began to run a check on properties owned by the underworld. It was then found that some of the shops in the complex were actually owned by gangster Dawood and his younger brother Iqbal Kaskar.

Several properties in South Mumbai are believed to have been usurped by Dawood’s henchmen. More than a dozen cases are currently being investigated by the Crime Branch.

A police officer said that dealings relating to shopping malls will also be investigated by Income Tax Department.

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