MUMBAI: Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s son, Moin, would get married in Pakistan and not in Dubai. The number of guests from across the world has been reduced drastically to avoid any problem. The don, 57, may not attend the ceremony and bless his son and daughter-in-law over video conferencing.



ources said no family member from Mumbai will attend the wedding. They said Dawood is avoiding Dubai because it is not as safe Pakistan. He fears that the Indian agencies can get him there and that the UAE authorities may not protect him due to the US pressure.
Seals’ 2nd casualty: Dawood Ibrahim son’s wedding

In what is perhaps the first indication of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s declining clout, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has refused to allow the gangster to hold his son’s wedding in Dubai.

As a result, the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts has postponed his son’s wedding indefinitely. Dawood’s son Moin was scheduled to get married to Benazir, the daughter of a Canada-based businessman, on May 27.

UAE took into account the current situation and sentiments across the globe, especially in the US and India. “Authorities do not want to give the impression that Dawood has his way in Dubai. To let him arrange a wedding reception under the prevailing circumstances could boomerang badly,” a central intelligence officer told DNA.

Mumbai Crime Branch chief Himanshu Roy said he has no information about the wedding. “We are keeping a close watch on the ground situation and would take appropriate action as and when required,” he said.

Dawood’s initial plan was to organise a lavish wedding in Karachi. However, he developed cold feet after the US Navy Seals killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a raid in Abbottabad deep inside Pakistan last week. “Dawood immediately came into the limelight after Osama’s killing. India too mounted enormous diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to hand over Dawood. This prompted the underworld don to shift the venue to Dubai,” the officer said.

“UAE, especially Dubai, has always been a safe haven for Dawood, his gang members and their activities. A few years ago, he even held a grand wedding reception for his daughter there. Dawood, however, did not attend the event,” revealed an underworld source.

Dawood assured the authorities that his son’s wedding would be a low-key affair, which would be attended only by close family members and select friends. However, they declined his request.

“Dawood has always travelled to Dubai from Pakistan on a fake passport. But, this time, nobody wants to take a chance,” the source said.
The gulf nation deported 16 gangsters, including Dawood’s younger brother, Iqbal Kaskar, to India after a shootout in an Indian club in 2003. The gangsters were later acquitted. “Dawood would never want such a situation (again),” said a source.

Scared Dawood Ibrahim may shift son’s wedding venue
MUMBAI: All the talk about a surgical strike in the aftermath of the Abbottabad raid seems to have rattled India’s most-wanted fugitive, Dawood Ibrahim. The man who planned India’s first major terror carnage in Mumbai in March 1993 has been forced to shift the venue of his son Moin’s wedding, according to intelligence officials who track him. Everything was working to clockwork precision for the wedding scheduled for May 28.

But Operation Geronimo created such panic that Dawood, who lives in Karachi, may shift the wedding to Dubai. Dawood has also moved out of his palatial bungalow in Karachi’s Clifton neighbourhood that his family has called home for years
Indian intelligence agencies are closely monitoring Dawood gang’s activities. Phones of his several aides are being intercepted and it has been concluded that the wedding will take place in Pakistan. Dawood, designated as a global terrorist in 2004, is among the top 10 wanted men in the world.

“The plan may be changed later on,” said a security establishment official. Dawood stays at Karachi’s upmarket Clifton Road with his family. Moin, a graduate, will be marrying a Pakistan-born Canadian garment businessman’s daughter. Dawood’s eldest daughter, Mahrukh, married Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad’s son Junaid in 2005, while his second daughter, Mahreen, tied the knot with a Pakistan-born US national last February.

Dawood has become more cautious after the US operation that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The don slashed the guests list from thousands to just a few hundred though he wanted a grand reception for his son’s wedding.

“The Pakistani security agencies have suggested Dawood not to mingle with new faces at the wedding and try using a video conferencing facility to observe nikah,” said a source. The nikah takes 15 minutes and will be performed in a nearby mosque. Sources said the nikah was initially scheduled in a shaamiyana but the venue was changed after bin Laden operation.

Dawood Ibrahim, son of a Mumbai crime branch head constable, fled India in 1984. His brothers run a popular gutkha company, Fire, in Pakistan.

Dawood has not threatened or spoken to the gang’s targets in the last seven years. “His close friend, Chhota Shakeel, generally takes care of the gang’s operations,” said an officer.