The Land No One Wanted: How Underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim’s Forgotten Village Plots Finally Found a Buyer, But Who Bought?

Maharashtra: Four forgotten plots linked to fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim finally find a buyer after years of silence, fear, and failed auctions.

In a quiet corner of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district lies Mumbake village, a place that doesn’t usually make headlines. But for decades, it has carried a heavy association: it is the ancestral village of Dawood Ibrahim.

For years, four pieces of land here sat untouched. Not abandoned, but avoided. Not unsellable, but unsold. Every attempt to auction them failed. 2017. 2020. 2024. 2025. Each time, silence. No bidders. No takers. Until now. 

The Auction That Finally Moved

On March 5, something changed. In an auction conducted by the Central Government under the SAFEMA Act, a bidder from Mumbai stepped forward quietly, but decisively. One plot, Survey Number 442 (Part 13-B), drew attention. Its reserve price was ₹9.41 lakh. The final bid? Over ₹10 lakh. What made this even more striking was that this single plot ended up costing more than the other three combined. And then came the twist.

The same Mumbai-based bidder didn’t stop there. They went on to acquire the remaining three plots as well, Survey Numbers 533, 453, and 617, each of which had only one bidder meeting the conditions. After years of hesitation, all four parcels finally had an owner. 

Why No One Came Forward Before

It wasn’t just about land. These plots carried a name, Dawood Ibrahim, and with it, a long shadow. People stayed away, not because the land lacked value, but because of what it represented. The association with the underworld and the infamous ‘D-Company’ made potential buyers uneasy.

There were practical concerns too. The land is located in a remote area. Its use is restricted to agriculture. And financially, it doesn’t promise quick or substantial returns. Even when the government reduced reserve prices by nearly 30% in November 2025, no one stepped in. Until this year.

All four plots were once part of the Kaskar family’s ancestral holdings. Some were registered in the name of Dawood Ibrahim’s mother, Amina Bi. These properties were attached in the 1990s and later forfeited to the Central government under SAFEMA. What remained after that was a long pause, decades of legal processes, failed auctions, and unanswered questions about who, if anyone, would finally take them.

Who’s The Buyer?

Interestingly, the identity of the buyer remains undisclosed. For the most sought-after plot, there were two bidders, one from Mumbai and another from Ratnagiri. The Mumbai bidder emerged on top. For the other three plots, there was only one serious contender, the same Mumbai-based individual. All four parcels now belong to this single buyer.

But the story isn’t fully over yet. The payment must be completed by early April 2026, and the sale still awaits final confirmation from the competent authority.

Old Attempts, Old Controversies

This isn’t the first time these properties have made news. A Delhi-based lawyer, Ajay Shrivastav, has been closely linked to previous auctions. In 2001, he bought two units in Mumbai’s Nagpada area, but never received possession. The matter is still pending in the Bombay High Court.

In 2020, he purchased Dawood’s ancestral bungalow in Mumbake village and even announced plans to set up a trust there. Then in 2024, he made headlines again by bidding ₹2.01 crore for a small plot (Survey Number 617), despite its reserve price being just ₹15,440. 

But that deal collapsed when the payment wasn’t completed. 

The Man Behind the Name

Dawood Ibrahim remains one of India’s most wanted figures. As the head of the D-Company syndicate, he was the mastermind behind the 1993 Mumbai bombings, 12 coordinated blasts that killed 257 people and injured over 700. 

For years, India has maintained that he is living in Karachi, Pakistan, a claim supported by the United Nations. Pakistan has denied this repeatedly, although in 2020, it briefly listed addresses linked to him in Karachi before distancing itself from the information.

The End of a Waiting Game?

So what does this sale really mean? Perhaps it marks the end of a long, uneasy chapter for these lands, properties that were neither fully forgotten nor fully reclaimed.

Or maybe it raises a new question:

What made someone finally step forward, when everyone else chose to stay away? For now, the land has a buyer. But the story still carries its past, quietly, just like the village it sits in.

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