Mirchi8217;s Pune den raided

PANCHGANI, MARCH 4: In a major swoop carried out jointly by the Mumbai Police and their counterparts from Satara, seven properties belonging...

PANCHGANI, MARCH 4: In a major swoop carried out jointly by the Mumbai Police and their counterparts from Satara, seven properties belonging to the notorious criminal and narcotics king Iqbal Merchant alias Iqbal Mirchi were raided and unspecified contraband was seized at this hill station about 100 kms from Pune this morning.

The two caretakers of these properties, Firoze Memon alias Merchant and his brother Aslam, who the locals say are Mirchi8217;s brothers, were being questioned till late in the evening.

Though senior police officials are tight-lipped about it, the same properties were raided and the same duo of caretakers was held in 1993, in the wake of serial bomb blast that rocked Mumbai.

Speculations were rife since significantly today8217;s swoops came in the wake of the second blasts in Mumbai which claimed nine lives on the polling day eve on Feb 27.

The properties raided today included the residences of both Foroze and Aslum Merchant; the offices of a petrol pump, a liquefied petroleum gas agencyand the Pan Hills Hotel operated by Firoze, the office of a tourist car outlet run by Aslum and some open fields.

A massive posse of more than 20 officers and over 100 constables, most of them armed and dressed in plain clothes, carried out the raids at these properties simultaneously. The raids, which started around 3 am, went on for nearly five hours.

While speaking to The Indian Express, Superintendent of Police, Satara, Meera Borwankar said that the raids were carried out on the basis of a tip off received by the Mumbai Police.

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She said acting on the tip off, a Mumbai Police team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dilip Shrirav contacted her late last night asking for assistance in conducting the raids. However, she refused to divulge any more details. 8220;I would not like to disclose any information since it would disrupt the peace of the town,8221; she said.

Shrirav said he had received a tip off that some objectionable material was stored at these properties.

However, he refused todivulge details about the contraband saying, 8220;It would not be proper to provide such details in interest of the peace and larger public interest.8221;

According to the local residents, Firoze and Aslum Merchant have settled down in Panchgani for nearly a decade. The properties which were raided today were purchased about ten years back, they said.

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The residents stated that Aslum runs a tourist car agency in Mahabaleshwar too. However, they added, the duo had always remained nondescript as they rarely mixed up with the locals.