Mirchi

Bhopal, March 26: A fortnight after the central excise and customs department successfully auctioned a prime property belonging to 1993 Bombay blasts accused Iqbal Mirchi, doubts have surfaced if the outlaw has repurchased it by proxy.

Madhya Pradesh police have sent a missive to intelligence agencies asking them to check the antecedents of a Mumbai-based company which purchased the bungalow for Rs 4.85 crore.

In the bidding, nine parties had participated with a reserve price of Rs 95 lakh. But according to a local builder, the party that won the auction was extremely aggressive and kept raising the bid till it purchased the property.

“It was all over in 15 minutes,” recalled the builder who did not want to be named. He said he had attended several auctions but had not come across such aggressive bidding. “It appeared to all of us that the bidder wanted to get it at any cost.”

Mirchi, wanted by Interpol, is said to be hiding in Latin America after shifting base from the United Arab Emirates and England. Apart from being a prime accused in the Bombay blasts, Mirchi figures on the US list of top 50 drug barons in the world. He is considered a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim.

In Bhopal, senior police officials said they were intrigued by Mirchi’s interest in the desolate bungalow overlooking the serene Bhopal Lake. “Is he some sort of romantic guy who thinks one day he will be able to play with his grandchildren here?” asked a top police official.

Spread over 8,343 square feet, the bungalow is called “Angrezan ka bungalow”, owing its name to its last occupant, an Anglo-Indian lady whose husband worked as a railway contractor in Bhopal.

Old-timers recalled that during his visits to Bhopal, Mirchi got in touch with the old and ailing lady, took her for treatment to Mumbai and got the huge bungalow registered in his wife Hawwa Bibi’s name.

The bungalow came into focus in 1999 after the body of Anil Sharma, a sharpshooter working for gangster Abu Salem, was reportedly found there.