Dawood Ibrahim (Urdu: داوود ابراهيم, born Sheikh Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar; December 26, 1955), also known as Dawood Ebrahim, and Sheikh Dawood Hassan, is the head of an organised crime and terror syndicate in South Asia, called the "D-Company" by South Asian media.
Dawood Ibrahim, the son of a police constable Ibrahim Kaskar, was born in Mumka village[12][13] in Ratnagiri in the Indian state of Maharashtra on December 26, 1955.[14] He was brought up in Dongri, a poor area of Central Bombay with a large but not exclusively Muslim population.[15] He is of Konkani descent.[16]
Nothing is known about his educational qualifications.
[edit] Early crimes
From being a retail extortionist to being the third most wanted don of the world, Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (54) has indeed come a long, long way in a highly-globalised underworld. Said Munawar Amin, a long-time resident of Bhendi Bazar, in whose mean streets Dawood, son of a constable, grew up: "Along with his brother Shabbir, he used to extort money from the Moplah businessmen who sell smuggled goods in our area. Nobody visualised that he would go up so high in mafiadom."[17]
With his friends and brothers, he would go down to the bustling Crawford Market and scam gullible bargain hunters. "His first trick was to offer a customer an expensive foreign watch," recalled a member of his youthful gang. "After taking the money, he would vanish, while the customer would be discovering that Dawood had switched the watch for a stone or some such worthless object during the wrapping"(Glenny 127). A natural leader, by his late teens Ibrahim had created D-Company (his own gang). He was charged with murder as a result of his audacious bid to destroy the near monopoly enjoyed in the underworld by the competing Lala clan. D-Company emerged victorious after an intense period of bloodshed, but Ibrahim was forced to flee his beloved Bombay, and by all accounts he has never overcome his melancholy at leaving.
He is said to have begun his real criminal career in Bombay working for the Karim Lala gang (which later became his own gang's rival) exploiting the rapid expansion in the Bombay (now Mumbai) textiles industry to his advantage[14], though another version says that he began his criminal career working as a career for smuggler Haji Mastan. In either case, he eventually split from both of them and started his own gang, D-Company. He soon moved his residence to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he has business interests alongside India.
[edit] Street-urchin to Don of Bombay
Further information: D-Company
Dawood initially started out as a mechanic on the streets of Bombay. However, because of the low pay he turned to crime full-time, as a smuggler.[18] A version also suggests that he also worked as a rickshaw puller in Azamgarh (also underworld Don Abu Salem's birthplace). He became one of Bombay's gangsters, with Karim Lala and Varadarajan Mudaliar as his seniors, but superseded all in a span of just five years—between 1983 and 1988. He became so powerful that even the aged don Karim Lala had to go all the way to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to sign a truce with him.[19]
When asked, late Amarjit Singh Samra, the former Mumbai Commissioner of Police, said this about Dawood's spectacular rise: "In 10 years, this ordinary-looking son of a police head constable had become, virtually, omnipresent in any crime."[20]
Dawood's elevation to the status of The Don was made by the late Ramabhai Naik, who in 1986 gunned down supari-king Karim Lala's nephew, the dreaded Samad Khan (who ruled the underworld till then), and paved the way for Dawood Ibrahim to become the undisputed don of the Bombay underworld. (Ironically, Rama Naik was killed in an 'encounter' with Nagpada police PSI Rajan Katdhare in 1988, allegedly at the behest and tip-off from Dawood Ibrahim only.)[21][22]
Another version suggests that Dawood used a Kashmiri woman, Nassem, to lure Samad Khan to an old building and then got him killed by his own gang comprising of Chhota Rajan, Sanjay Ruggad, Dilip Bhuva and Sunil Sawant alias Sautya, thereby elevating Dawood to the position of the Don of Bombay. (D (film) is largely based on Don Dawood's rise in the above mentioned circumstances.)[23]
Thereafter, he shifted his base to Dubai (UAE) in 1986 and established chains of businesses in partnership with local Sheikhs. He rubbed shoulders with kings and princes of the Gulf emirates and acquired more power, which at later stages saved him from being extradited to India.[19]
However, on the flipside, there is also much evidence that the Indian government has always tried to attribute Dawood Ibrahim's crimes to his links in Pakistan which have yet to be verified.
[edit] Relationship with fellow gangsters
[edit] Chhota Rajan and split
Further information: Chhota Rajan and Gang wars between Chota Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim
Chhota Rajan was inducted into the ‘big game’ (killings) under Rama Naik during his stint at ‘‘Lal Vite Ki Chawl’’ (the red-brick structure) near Byculla railway station in central Bombay. It was here that he came in touch with Dawood Ibrahim, who saw potential in the cocky youth. It was not long before Dawood was able to sell the famous ‘Dubai dream’ to this school dropout (Chhota Rajan). From an understudy, Chhota Rajan rose to become Dawood’s second-in-command, using Dubai as a base to motivate a clutch of shooters from Tilak Nagar in Chembur and Dadar. The deadly formation led to the decimation of the rival Pathan gang. However, they later fell out. ‘‘The bomb blasts in 1993 were one of the reasons why I split with Dawood. He also killed my men,’’ said Nana, as Rajan is known in his ‘inner circle’. When asked, the anti-extortion cell went on record to say that, of late, the number of Rajan threats in the city have been ‘‘negligible’’.[24] As a result of their falling, many gansgters and notable personalities from both sides were killed, notable among them being Sharad Shetty, Dawood's financier and long term confidant, and Mirza Dilshad Beg, Nepal MP and one time minister, who was reportedly a point man for Dawood in Nepal.
[edit] Abu Salem and split
Gangster Abu Salem was also under the patronage of Don Dawood but he is said to have split from him after some differences arose between them due to the assassination of Gulshan Kumar and also because Dawood started favouring gangster Chhota Shakeel over Abu Salem.
[edit] Net worth
His net worth is said to be $6-7 billion (INR 30000 crores) and his ‘business interests’ are spread in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Dubai, Germany, France, the UK and several countries in Africa.[25] Some sources estimate his net worth at close to 900 billion rupees (~$20billion)[26]. Despite this, he has never been listed by the Forbes in its annual list of billionaires, though other criminals such as Joaquín Guzmán Loera have been, putting the size of Dawood's fortune in question.
[edit] Family
The Tribune mentions the following information about Don Dawood:
Name: Dawood Sheikh Ibrahim Kaskar
Father’s name: Late Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Kaskar
Mother’s name: Late Amina Bi
Wife’s name: Mehjabeen, alias Zubeena Zareen
Children: Mahrook, 25 years; Mehreen, 23 years; Moeen, 20 years; Maria, 14 years.
Siblings: Brothers - Late Noor-ul-Haq alias Noora (allegedly shot dead by gangsters in Karachi)[27]; Anees Ibrahim Kaskar[28]; Iqbal Kaskar; a sister known as Aapi (reportedly 11 siblings, names of others not known)
[edit] His daughter
Dawood Ibrahim's daughter Mahrukh Ibrahim married Junaid Miandad the son of a former Pakistan National Cricket Team captain, Javed Miandad.[29] Miandad told the press that his son and Ibrahim's daughter met while studying together in the UK.[30]
[edit] Crimes by family members
Sameer Wagle (33)[when?] |He is the son of Dawood’s elder sister Shahida and runs a travel agency at Mazgaon. He, along with four others, was arrested by the Byculla police in February 2006 on charges of extortion. The accused were arrested after the victim, confined in a room at Dockyard Road, dialled 100. The police then rescued the victim and his brother. The suspects had allegedly forced the victim to sign on a stamp paper, giving Wagle the ownership rights of his butcher shop at Mazgaon. Haseena and her associates had taken Rs 1 crore from him “to help sell off a property’’. However, the deal never materialised. When Avlani demanded his money back, he was allegedly threatened. Avlani then approached the police. The crime branch has filed a chargesheet against Haseena. The trial is pending.
Danish Parkar (28) | Another nephew, he was Haseena’s son. There was one criminal case registered against him in the JJ Marg police station. He died in a road accident in 2005. His friends allege he was killed in a “planned operation’’.
Iqbal Kaskar | Dawood’s younger brother, he was deported from the UAE in 2003 and booked in murder and land-grabbing cases. He was subsequently discharged from the murder case. On June 14, 2007 a special MCOCA court acquitted him in the controversial Sara-Sahara shopping complex case for lack of evidence. With no cases pending against him, Kaskar was released from jail.
Haseena Parkar | Dawood’s younger sister, she came under the crime branch scanner in 2006 for allegedly extorting money from a builder. While the 48-year-old widow managed to dodge the police, her lawyers proved in the court that it was not a case of extortion but cheating and was granted bail. A real estate broker, Vinod Avlani, had complained to the police that Parkar had threatened him.
Sajid Wagle (38) | Dawood’s nephew, Sajid Wagle, was arrested in July 2008 for targeting cable operators in several areas of south Mumbai. Popularly known as Bhanja, Wagle has a group of boys working for him who go about threatening cable operators to pay hafta. The don’s nephew owns Nawaz cable and internet service agency. Son of a technical head clerk in the Merchant Navy, Bhanja is the second among four siblings. He was earlier arrested in February 2008 in an extortion case. A Std-VI dropout, Wagle, stepped into the world of crime in 1999 when he was first arrested in connection with an extortion case. Though Bhanja has never met his uncle in the past 25 years, he never fails to use his name. His mother, Shahida who was Dawood’s elder sister, died last year
[edit] Main crimes
[edit] Narcotics trafficking and money-laundering
Dawood Ibrahim is believed to control much of the '[[hawala]' system , which is the commonly used unofficial system for transferring money and remittances outside the view of official agencies, mainly proceeds from narcotics trafficking and illegal business dealings. Much of the organisation's operations are in India.[31][32]
[edit] Terrorism
Ibrahim is widely believed to have masterminded the 1993 Bombay Bombings, a series of terrorist attacks carried out in the city on March 12 of the year. In 2003, the Indian and United States governments declared Ibrahim a "Global Terrorist". The then Deputy Prime Minister,described it as a major development and that India stands "vindicated". Ibrahim is currently on India's "Most wanted List".[33]
The United States Department of Treasury has also designated Ibrahim as a terrorist as part of its international sanctions program — effectively forbidding U.S. financial entities from working with him and seizing assets believed to be under his control. The Department of Treasury keeps a fact sheet on Ibrahim which contains reports of his syndicate having smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle-East and Africa shared with and used by terrorist organisation al-Qaeda. The fact sheet also said that Ibrahim's syndicate is involved in largescale shipment of narcotics in the United Kingdom and Western Europe. He is also believed to have contacts with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden. In the late 1990s, Ibrahim traveled in Afghanistan under the Taliban's protection. The syndicate has consistently aimed to destabilize the Indian government through riots, terrorism and civil disobedience.[34]
Washington added that they will request the United Nations to list Ibrahim "in pursuance of relevant Security Council resolutions". The UN listing will require that all UN member states freeze Ibrahim's assets and impose a travel ban. Juan Zarate, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, said that they are committed to identifying and attacking financial ties between terrorism and the underworld.[33] Ibrahim is also suspected to have connections with terrorist organisations, and in 2002 was linked to the financing of increasing attacks in Gujarat by Lashkar-e-Toiba.[33] New Delhi handed over to Islamabad a list of 38 most wanted criminals, including Ibrahim.[6]
In a major blow to Ibrahim, ten members of his gang were arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch on November 21, 2006. They were extradited from the United Arab Emirates, from where they had been deported.[35]
Sources reported in India Today indicate that Dawood Ibrahim provided the logistics for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.[36]
[edit] United States deportation resistance
In January 2002, a month after the Parliament attack, Indian officials visited the US, where they had meetings with Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. A list of the Top 20 most-wanted terrorists in Pakistan was handed to the US. Ibrahim was wanted in connection with the 1993 Bombay serial blasts.
Ajmal Amir Kasab, a gunman arrested for participation in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 173 (164 civilians and security personnel and 9 terrorists), has confessed to authorities according to reports that Ibrahim's organization provided arms and explosives to the Lashkar-e-Toiba group that were used to carry out the attacks.
Recent decline and ill-health
The past few years have seen a dramatic decline in Dawood's fortunes from the heady heights of the life depicted in Portrait of a Don - the exposé by Ghulam Hasnain in 2001.
Firstly came the death of Sharad Shetty, Dawood's financier and long term confidant, an assassination carried out by Dawood's long time rival Chotta Rajan. News media outlets reported the murder as a sign of a dramatic shift of power between the crime lords. This was the seminal event in a series of blows to his criminal empire from which Ibrahim has never fully recovered. The loss of Shetty was followed by the declaration by the United States Treasury Department declaring Ibrahim a global terrorist because of his links with Osama bin Laden.Ibrahim then lost one of his closest aides, Pakistani Underworld Don Shoaib Khan (not to be confused with the Pakistani cricketer also named Shoaib Khan) in 2005. Shoaib allegedly died due to a 'heart attack' though he had no previous such condition.
