Tiger Memon's, one of the primary accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, and the Memon family's properties are going to be auctioned, according to the official statements. The list features several apartments, commercial areas, and a major land parcel, which has been a subject of government inspection for a long time.
The Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act Authority (SAFEMA) was given information about 17 properties owned by Tiger Memon and his family members by the special TADA court in Mumbai. Out of these, SAFEMA has already seized eight properties, which include three flats in the Al Husseini building in Mahim, central Mumbai. According to the senior official, these flats were the residences of Tiger Memon, his five brothers, and their mother.
Since the police took up the case of the 12 March 1993 bomb blasts after which at least 257 people lost their lives, they have been trying to apprehend Tiger Memon, who is believed to be in Pakistan. The brother of Tiger Memon, Yakub Memon, was executed in 2015, whereas the rest of the Memon family received various sentences from the TADA court.
The rest of the Memon family's properties have been differently handled in the court system. Four of these properties are involved in court cases, and the officials are in the process of taking possession of another five, the official said. At the same time, the central government is doing the valuations for the eight properties that have been seized. It is expected that the legal work will be done soon and that the auction will start in December or January.
The CBI report has specifically referred to the Al Husseini building as the source of the conspiracy traced to the series of blasts. The family owned three apartments on the fifth and sixth floors of the building. These apartments were under the control of the government for 34 years and were reopened this April.
The Memons also have a piece of land of 10,000 square meters in Kole Kalyan, Vakola, suburban Mumbai, among their other properties. The land is worth around ₹400 crore, but SAFEMA has not yet taken over the land due to encroachments and two buildings on the site. Another expensive property at Zaveri Bazar, South Mumbai, is also in the process of being taken over by SAFEMA.
The Memon family has a flat in Bandra and two flats in Kapadia Nagar, Kurla, which will be auctioned after securing possession. Besides that, there are four shops in Manish Market, South Mumbai, that are the joint ownership of Tiger Memon and Mohammad Dosa. Nonetheless, there is an appeal against the TADA court's decision to hand these shops over to SAFEMA that is at the moment pending.
Officials pointed out that the sale of these properties comes from the government's long-standing drive to unearth terrorist-linked assets and should be viewed as a positive step forward in combating terrorism financing. By taking steps to get these assets out of the black market and selling them, officials try to get back the money and make sure that there are no illegal holdings left.
Due to the great locations of a lot of these properties, the forthcoming auctions will most certainly be in people's minds who will consider making a purchase or investment. These properties, ranging from flats in Mahim in centrally located Mumbai to high-value land in Vakola and commercial spaces on South Mumbai, are the Memon family's amassed wealth over the last few decades.
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