"My Conversations With Dawood Ibrahim" continues...

We succeeded in arresting Ahmed Mansoor from the Jama Masjid area of Delhi. Ahmed Mansoor had grown up with Dawood, and knew a lot about his formative years and his later life as well. Among other things, Ahmed Mansur told us about Dawood’s lavish lifestyle in Dubai, his fondness for ‘mujras’ and women, his keen interest in cricket and Bollywood and how his word was the law in Bombay. Most disputes involving real estate, monetary matters, release dates of films between Bollywood producers, casting of film-stars etc. were decided in his ‘court’ in Dubai. Almost all Bollywood personalities called on him to pay their obeisance to the Don. He had taken a special fancy for Mandakini, a film actress, whom he secretly married. The two have a son who is being brought up in Bangalore by the film star’s sister.

Mansur narrated several anecdotes on how Dawood had built his Robinhood image by helping
people in distress. One of them was about an old widow living on Napean Sea Road in a prime
property who was being troubled by her late husband’s brothers. They had forcibly occupied a portion of her property and stationed a few local goons therein. Having failed to get any help from the authorities, the hapless lady called Dawood’s number in Dubai. To her good fortune,
Dawood himself picked up the receiver and heard her story of woes. He took her address and
sent his men to her house. On realizing that the don himself had got involved in the matter and
was on the widow’s side, not only did the goons squatting on her property run for their dear lives
but her brothers-in-law also withdrew.

Mansur’s interrogation and follow-up investigation led us to material on East-West Airlines’—India’s first privately owned but now defunct airlines—linkages with D-company and the nexus of Saboo Chacko, the Regional Manager of the airlines with Dawood’s men.

Further, the involvement of the then Minister of Power and, a sitting Member of Parliament, in
providing shelter to the gangsters came to light.

To be continued...