parijataka
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The GodMother
Haseena Parkar (Haseena Apa) runs a proxy business for her brother Dawood
The Dimtimkar locality in Mumbai's downtown Nagpada is abuzz with activity. Its residents are unmindful of the absence of their godmother, Haseena Parkar. They all know that Haseena Apa, as she is referred to, will be back sooner or later, unharmed. Fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim's sister and Nagpada's own queen of the underworld has been absconding for over a week after the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Police registered a case against her. But her cronies are not worried. "Apa has big brother, nothing will happen to her," declares a resident, referring to Dawood.
After remaining elusive for over a decade, Haseena, 47, who allegedly runs a proxy business for her Karachibased brother, has finally been booked under an offence. Police say that property broker Vinod Alvani lodged a complaint against her for an extortion demand of Rs.30 lakh. Just as Dawood had fled India in the mid-1980s fearing prosecution, Haseena chose to abscond as soon as a case was registered against her. The Mumbai Police are still clueless about her whereabouts. "No informer is willing to come forward and give us any information on her," complains a flustered Crime Branch official. But sources say she has not yet left the state.
The case has put the spotlight on the woman who has ruled her brother's former underworld kingdom from the shadows. Her might is unchallenged in Mumbai. Haseena rose to the crime world after her husband Ismail Parkar was shot dead by the Arun Gawli gang in 1991. Dawood retaliated by killing the murderers of his brother-in-law at the famous J.J. Hospital shootout. Soon after, Haseena shifted to her new den, the Gordon Hall Apartments in Nagpada, from where she heads the crime syndicate. Sources say she liked the house so much that it was merely broken into and occupied. No one dared complain.
Known to be involved in almost every business in the area, she gets her cut in every shady transaction that she fancies. In return, the godmother takes care of her flock. "My sister had run away with a man a year ago. It was Apa who threatened the man and got her back," says a cell phone shop owner in the area. Although she does not directly maintain regular contact with Dawood for fear of police interception, Haseena is said to have a strong network of messengers who help the two keep in touch.
Her business is that of caretaking. According to the Crime Branch, her brother has left behind around 54 benami properties that Haseena manages. The Good Luck Lodge at Peer Khan Road is one of her rent accruing units. She is believed to own six more hotels in Nagpada. This apart, Haseena also manages the businesses of acquiring overseas rights of Bollywood films, hawala rackets, extortion, Mumbai's famous cable wars, and settling disputes in return for hefty fees. The Slum Redevelopment Authority's (SRA) projects in the city have also not escaped her eye. Several such projects in Mumbai are under the scanner because of their alleged underworld links. The case against Haseena is in the context of an SRA plot which she and a few other developers wanted to redevelop.
Dawood is reportedly not too happy with his sister conducting such illegal businesses. "Even though Dawood has told her not to indulge in such things, she loves the power she wields over Mumbai and continues the shady business," says a source. According to the police, Dawood also regularly sends a sum of Rs.2 crore to each of his four sisters every month.
Haseena's own family now comprises 17-year-old, school-going son Alishah and an 18-year-old daughter. Her eldest daughter was married off to a businessman two years ago and her eldest son Danish, who was known to be Dawood's favourite nephew, was killed in a car crash in April last year. In fact, Haseena's confidants say she is now busy conducting his first death anniversary. They add that she was so shaken by his death that she has even decided to abandon her Gordon House residence and shift to the suburbs. It has also been reported that her worsening migraine problem keeps her largely bed-ridden and she rarely meets people anymore, ruling by the name of the Dawood family rather than by physical presence.
Meanwhile, her entire business in Mumbai is taken care of by her right hand man Salim Patel. While Haseena issues the final orders, it is Patel who executes them. She also had another Man Friday, Imran Kaliya, who was packed off to Dubai after a fall-out.
The first ever case against the godmother is a telling story of the police-underworld nexus. Alvani approached the Crime Branch in December last year, but the complaint was registered only six months later on April 21, after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) began investigating corruption charges against Crime Branch officials handling the case. Joint Commissioner (Crime) Meeran Borwankar, however, says that her men were only doing their duty. "They were conducting an enquiry and the case was registered after it was over," claims Borwankar, who is mum on why it took six months for her men to conduct the enquiry and why the case was registered with the AEC instead of Unit 1, which was conducting the enquiry. ACB Additional Commissioner Pragnya Sarwade is more forthcoming. "We have a case against two police officials. Conversation with touts shows that certain demands were made by the public servants. We are trying to establish this," she says.
Corrupt officials and having a global terrorist for a brother may be the reason why Haseena may never be lodged in jail. Meanwhile, the sessions court has directed the police to arrest her before May 16. Although state Home Minister R.R. Patil has declared that there was no pressure on the police not to arrest Haseena, it is still unclear how information about the case reached the underworld queen who managed to flee just in time, from a residence barely a kilometre from the Mumbai Police headquarters.
