Heart burnt former BJP leader who later on joined NCP, alleged Devendra Fadnavis receiving Rs 20 crore donation from RKW Developers Ltd after 2014, which has links with late Iqbal Memon, an accused in 1993 bomb blast in Mumbai. RKW Developers Private Limited is a Private incorporated on 29 November 2007. Directors of RKW Developers Private Limited are Dheeraj Rajeshkumar Wadhawan, Placid Jacob Noronha. This company is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for business transactions with Iqbal Mirchi frequently, be it in the Raj Kundra case or PNB scam.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has suspected Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan of being the “prime mover” of a property deal between a company linked to him and past drug lord Iqbal Memon alias Iqbal Mirchi. The ED, which is investigating a money laundering-terror funding case against Memon, is also inquiring into the real estate deal. The agency gathered all the details of how Wadhawan used DHFL to pay more than Rs 110 crore to Memon.
Also, payments to the tune of 128.5 million UAE dirhams (approximately Rs 154 crore) were made to Memon via Culture Estate LLC, a Dubai-based company in which Wadhawan was a director until 2008. Dheeraj Wadhavan has his links in BJP and Maha Vikas Aghadi, he has given donations to all those political parties that came to power in Maharashtra. Being a land shark, he is involved in major land deals and money laundering cases.
Iqbal Mirchi alias Iqbal Memon was an Indian underworld criminal associated with Dawood Ibrahim. Mirchi was often called the drug baron for his flourishing drugs business across Asia, Africa and Europe. The money laundering case relates to Memon’s Mumbai properties, which are being treated by the ED as the proceeds of crime. Three such properties were sold to Sunblink, the company linked to Dheeraj Wadhawan. The latter has told the ED that he didn’t know Memon was a wanted man but the agency said one of his brokers had alerted him about this. Dheeraj Wadhawan is linked with the Patra Chawl controversy.
Memon’s family originally owned shops selling chillies and spices and thus he got the nickname ‘Mirchi’. Mirchi’s luck soared after he began smuggling in banned meth tablets, heroin and Mandrax. He also owned a disco called The Fisherman’s Wharf at Worli seafront in Mumbai which was a hotbed for narcotics. In May 1986, Mirchi was first nabbed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in connection with the seizing of 600 kg of heroin — prized at around Rs 9 crore — from a farmhouse in Thane. However, prosecutors could not link Mirchi with the farmhouse and he was let off. When the heat became too much, Mirchi left India in the late 1980s first to Dubai and later to London. The front for all his businesses in the UK was a rice mill called Eden Fine Rice.
He was first arrested by Interpol in London in April 1995, following a red corner notice for his arrest issued by the CBI. An extradition request was made on the basis that Mirchi was wanted for ordering a murder, and was the prime suspect in two drug seizure cases. However, in 1999, all investigations of Iqbal Mirchi were called off for lack of evidence. The Indian government also lost its extradition proceedings against Mirchi. Mirchi always claimed that he was a victim of oppression and that all the allegations against him were unfounded and biased. In an interview with the Guardian Newspaper in London, Mirchi maintained his stance, explaining that was how he won his extradition proceedings. Mirchi also denied being associated with Dawood Ibrahim in any way.
In addition, Mirchi claimed he was a “law-abiding person with no convictions,” and that he was “being victimised for being a successful businessman”. On 1 June 2004, he was sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. Though many allegations were produced in the media against Mirchi, he was never formally charged or convicted of any crime. Mirchi died in 2013 of a heart attack in London at age 63. In April 2016, Mirchi was named in the Panama papers for stashing black money in foreign bank accounts.
Iqbal Mirchi’s first wife is Hajira Memon, by whom he has two sons, Asif and Junaid. All of them live in the United Kingdom. Mirchi’s second wife is the former actress Heena Kausar, daughter of the famous film-maker K. Asif (producer-director of the epic Mughal-e-Azam) by his third wife, the actress Nigar Sultana. Mirchi and Heena got married in 1991 and they had no children together. Heena also continues to reside in the United Kingdom after Mirchi’s death. Mirchi invested in real estate and other businesses through his sources, Dheeraj builder was one of his partners in various ventures. The companies associated with Dheeraj Wadhavan are under scrutiny, but his donations can’t be translated as funds from the underworld.
