Dubai crisis: Dawood dials builder, asks him to pay up

S Balakrishnan,
11 Dec 2009, 0659 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: It is rare that the don himself picks up the phone
and threatens anyone. That job is left to his lieutenants
like Chhota Shakeel. 

Butsince the stakes are very high and the builder is also in
 the top league, don Dawood Ibrahim decided to issue the
threat himself.

Sources in the security establishment told TOI on Wednesday
that the Karachibased Dawood Ibrahim had last week threatened
a builder with dire consequences if he did not part with a huge
 sum of money. Not only did he issue the threat, but also
activated his ace shooters to tackle the unwilling builder.

Alarmed by this development, certain middlemen, including
underworld operative Mohammed Macchi, are trying to broker
a settlement. Some of them are believed to have flown to
Karachi to personally mollify the don. A top crime branch
official said: “We will enter the picture only if a formal
complaint is lodged with us.’’

The apparent reason why the builder has not approached the
crime branch’s anti-extortion cell so far is that he himself
 was using the don’s finances for several of his projects.

“The dispute is over the quantum of returns to be paid to
‘mucchad’ aka Dawood Ibrahim. The stakes are stupendous and
 hence, the don has himself got into the act. The collapse
of the Dubai economy is already hurting his business interests
and this dispute in Mumbai has complicated the situation for him,’’
a senior security official observed.

It is well-known that the underworld has huge stakes in the
real estate industry in the Mumbai-Thane belt, both in fresh
constructions and in old buildings and slum rehab projects.

An SRA official said: “We receive calls from the ‘bhais’ who
ask us to approve the projects of their frontmen. We dare
 not complain to the police.’’

Source:TOI