Hemant Jain was only 34-years-old when he came across a shop in Mumbai’s Napada area and saw in it an opportunity to defy the city’s notorious mafia network. He decided to bid for the 144 square foot shop which belonged to Dawood Ibrahim in the year 2001. However, it took him a 23 year long legal battle to finally get the property registered in his name, Times of India reported.
“I bid for the property after reading in a newspaper that Dawood’s properties weren’t attracting buyers,” Jain, now 57, was quoted as saying by the publication. His bid for the property would result in a 23-year journey for possession.
Long journey to possession
In September 2001, Uttar Pradesh native Hemant Jain bought the property linked to Dawood Ibrahim in an auction conducted by the income tax department. He paid ₹2 lakh for the shop, located on Jayraj Bhai Street in Mumbai.
From that moment, the UP man faced one hurdle after the other.
“After I purchased the property, officials misled me, claiming a ban on transferring Centre-owned properties. Later, I found no such ban existed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the income tax department claimed that the “original files were missing,” which meant the property could not be transferred to Jain.
The harried buyer wrote several letters to the Prime Minister’s Office – his woes spanned the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi – but to no avail.
“I wrote dozens of letters to the Prime Minister’s Office and received occasional replies, but the registration could not be completed. The main reason for the delay was that the original files went missing from the Income Tax Department,” said Jain, according to India Today.
In 2017, he was told the property file had vanished and he would have to pay stamp duty based on the property’s current market value. This, he learned, was ₹23 lakhs.
“Since the property was bought in the auction, the stamp duty should not have been calculated as per the market value,” Jain argued. “I kept following up with the registrar’s office for several years but received no response.”
The UP man had to file a court case in Mumbai to get the property registered in his name. Following the court’s instructions, the registration was finally completed on December 19, 2024. He paid ₹1.5 lakh in stamp duties and penalties.
Unfortunately for Jain, despite this long-fought and hard-won legal victory, possession is still a distant dream. He now has to contend with Dawood Ibrahim’s henchmen who have occupied the shop.
“Authorities advised me to forget about the property and live peacefully. But we villagers don’t know fear. A man from the village is like a banyan tree — strong against all winds,” said Jain.
“I won’t abandon this fight. Now that the property is in my name, I will also secure possession,” he declared.
