Journalism of Courage
Mohammed Iqbal Memon alias Iqbal Mirchi,a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim,died of a heart attack in London on Wednesday night.
Named in at least a dozen cases including murder,attempted murder,extortion and drug smuggling,Mirchi,63,left for Dubai shortly before the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts,in which he is suspected to have been involved. In 1994,he was declared a proclaimed offender and an Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued against him.
Mirchi was living in a six-bedroom house in an exclusive part of Hornchurch,in Essex. The Mumbai Police sought his extradition in 1995,but the request was turned down after a long battle in UK courts.
In 2005,Mirchi was on the US state departments list of specially designated narcotics traffickers and was also named by the UN as one of the top 50 drug barons.
Mirchis wife Heena Kausar is a former Bollywood actor. Police sources said Mirchi,originally from Gujarat,got his alias as he owned a spice shop in Mumbai. He allegedly smuggled Mandrax tablets with chillis to Africa. He also ran a popular nightclub in Worli called Fishermans Wharf.
