A Mumbai Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) Special Court Judge V D Kedar has ordered that 14 properties belonging to Tiger Memon, who is among the alleged masterminds of the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, must be handed over to the Central government. The court passed the order on March 26.

Memon, who fled India before the blasts along with his family members, is still wanted in the case. He is reported to be living in Pakistan along with his family members.

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The TADA Special ruled that “the possession of the immovable properties needs to be handed over to the central government.”

The court confirmed that the properties forfeited to the central government are “free from encumbrances,” thereby allowing the competent authority to assume control of these assets on behalf of the government.

The properties owned by Tiger Memon and his family members were in the possession of the Bombay High Court’s receiver since 1994 after an order of the TADA court.

The case pertains to a series of 13 explosions across Mumbai on March 12, 1993, which led to the deaths of 257 individuals and left over 700 injured, which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had probed extensively.

The 14 properties owned by Tiger Memon and his family members include a flat in Bandra (West), an office space and an open plot in Mahim (West) where the Memon family had lived, a vacant plot and a flat in Santacruz (East), two flats in a Kurla building, an office on Mohammed Ali Road, a shop and plot in Dongri, three shops in Manish Market, and a building on Sheikh Memon Street, Mumbai.

The request for the release of the properties was made by the competent authority under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act or the SAFEM (FOP) Act.

The plea highlighted that the SAFEM (FOP) Act is designed to identify illegally acquired assets of smugglers and drug traffickers and facilitate their forfeiture to the central government.

Forfeiture proceedings against Tiger Memon were initiated based on a detention order issued by the Maharashtra government in 1992 under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act, 1974. Following this, the competent authority ordered the forfeiture of various properties in 1993 under the SAFEM (FOP) Act.

However, in 1994, these properties were attached by the special TADA court overseeing the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts trial and were subsequently placed under the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court.

The court had issued notices to Tiger Memon and his family regarding the plea from the competent authority, but no response was filed. After reviewing the available documents, TADA special Judge V D Kedar concluded that it is necessary to set aside the attachment order issued in 1994.

Judge Kedar’s order further stated that possession of the immovable properties should be transferred to the central government through the applicant (competent authority) in line with the forfeiture order passed in 1993.

According to the CBI, the 1993 Mumbai blasts were orchestrated by fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, in collaboration with his aides Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa, allegedly at the behest of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI.

While Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon remain fugitives, Memon’s brother, Yakub Memon, was convicted and hanged to death in 2015.