Mumbai, July 28: Decks were today cleared for the demolition of two shopping complexes reportedly belonging to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim with a civil court rejecting the plea of aggrieved tenants to quash the order of the civic body for pulling down these structures located in south Mumbai. Civil judge Q J Shaikh rejected the plea of Abdul Rehman Abdul Gafoor Shaikh and two others on the ground that they had not made out any case for quashing the order of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for demolishing Sara Shopping Centre and Sahara Shopping Complex.
Earlier, BMC had issued notices for demolition. Later, the civic body issued final orders for demolition. Being aggrieved, the tenants moved the court through a notice of motion on a suit filed by them.
The matter came up for hearing yesterday before a holiday court which restrained the civic body from demolishing these structures till today. A regular court today heard the notice of motion and dismissed it.

With the court dismissing the plea of tenants, the demolition of these structures now appeared imminent, civic body sources said.
According to police, these two shopping complexes are just a tip of ice-berg of underworld investment in real estate of Mumbai. Dawood Ibrahim and his group have allegedly pumped in several crores of rupees to buy old buildings in south Mumbai and convert them into shopping plazas and multiplexes.

Bureau Report