Infamous drug kingpin and allegedly Dawood Ibrahim’s right-hand man Iqbal Mirchi is no more, but any hint of association holds the potential to woo trouble. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Praful Patel is the latest to fall under his shade after Enforcement Directorate Officials attached four floors of a commercial building in Mumbai’s Worli neighbourhood. Developed by a firm owned by Patel and his family, the Ceejay House building has been under the ED’s scanner on a money laundering case dating back to 2019. The agency had previously attached two floors- under Mirchi’s name- under the probe.

Also Read: National Herald case: Officials detain Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot for protest

Born on 25th April 1950, Iqbal hailed from a family of chilli sellers hence the name ‘Mirchi’. Whilst never convicted, he allegedly made his fortune smuggling meth tablets, heroin and Mandrax. He also owned the Worli nightclub ‘The Fisherman’s Wharf’-a drug den of sorts- which served as a conduit for the smuggled contraband. Mirchi was first arrested in May 1986 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence after 600kg of heroin was seized from a Thane farmhouse. Unable to tie the haul to Mirchi or his associates, he was let loose.

The intrepid gangster soon shifted base to London in the late 1980s, operating out of a rice mill named Eden Fine Rice. Arrested by Interpol in April 1995, following a request by CBI, Mirchi faced extradition to India. But in 1999, investigations were called off, citing a lack of evidence. The Indian government also lost their extradition proceedings against Mirchi.

Vociferously denying any wrongdoing, Iqbal contested that he was a victim of persecution and bias. Dismissing any suggestions that he had close ties to Dawood and the D-Company, he stressed that he was a “law-abiding citizen” in an interview with The Guardian. It would not end the nudging suspicion that bookended his every move. Sanctioned under the Kingpin Act in June 2004, he was never formally charged.

Also Read: Lalit Modi’s IPL money laundering case: All you need to know

The colourful Iqbal died of a heart attack at his London residence in 2013. He is survived by his two wives- Hajira Memon and Heena Kausar- and two sons, Asif and Junaid (both from his first marriage). In April 2016, Mirchi was named in the Panama Papers for money laundering.