Mumbai: Hemant Jain, the businessman from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh who had successfully bid for a property of don Dawood Ibrahim, is running from pillar to post to get possession.

He reached Mumbai by train on Wednesday and went to the property, which is a shop on Jairajbhai Lane, off Shuklaji Street in central Mumbai, only to find an engineering workshop is being operated there. The FPJ accompanied him to the spot where the people asked him mockingly when he would take possession.

Jain first went to Nagpada police station, in whose jurisdiction the property is located, seeking police protection. He was told that his file has been sent to the deputy commissioner of police, Zone III, in Worli. At Worli, he was initially asked to come at night since the officer concerned was on night duty.

But later the police asked him to meet one sub-inspector Shinde. When Jain met him he was told that his file had been sent back to Nagpada. His problem is that without police protection there is no way he can take possession of the property. The fear of Dawood still permeates the area. But what is more shocking is that the police are not showing any eagerness to help him get possession.

Jain, who is a dealer in electronic goods, had taken part in the auction of the property conducted by the Income Tax department on September 20, 2001, to recover dues which Dawood owes to it. He successfully bid for the property along with his brother Piyush and he was given the certificate of sale of immovable property by P.V.C. Nambiar, tax recovery officer of the IT department on December 3, 2001.

Surprisingly no one from the government showed any eagerness to expedite the registration of the sale deed and hand over possession to Jain. Finally, the registration was done on December 19, 2024 by the sub registrar of the Tardeo division.

But even after registration he was not able to get hold of the property. "Sitting in Karachi, Dawood is still able to strike fear in the minds of people," a local resident of Shuklaji Street, which was once notorious for the flesh trade and gold smuggling, observed. However, Jain is determined to gain possession just to make the point that he is not afraid of the Bhai.