The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 700.27 crore, including three prime properties in Mumbai's Worli, in a case related to late gangster Iqbal Mirchi and his family members, officials said on Monday.
The attached properties – Rabia Mansion, Marium Lodge and Sea View – in Worli have been valued at around Rs 497 crore, while overseas assets in Dubai worth approximately Rs 203.27 crore have also been attached under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), an official statement said.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the action stems from multiple FIRs registered by Mumbai Police against Iqbal Mohammad Memon aka Iqbal Mirchi under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, TADA and NDPS Act.
The agency alleged that Mirchi, who had escaped to the UK, was involved in organised criminal activities, including drug trafficking, extortion and illegal arms activities.
The probe agency said its money laundering investigation revealed that the proceeds of crime generated from these activities were allegedly laundered through the acquisition of properties in India and abroad in the names of family members, associates and entities controlled by Mirchi.
The ED said the investigation found that the Worli properties belonging to the Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust were purchased in 1986 through Rockside Enterprises for Rs 6.5 lakh and that the actual ownership and control allegedly remained with Mirchi and his family despite the properties continuing in the name of the trust on paper.
Considered a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Mirchi died of a heart attack in London on August 14, 2013, at the age of 63.
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