Dawood Ibrahim Critical in Karachi After Heart Attack: Reports

New Delhi: One of the world’s most wanted men and fugitive Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is in critical condition in Karachi after he suffered a heart attack, sources told CNN-News18.

However, his top lieutenant Chota Shakeel told CNN-News18 over phone -- another fugitive from Indian law, he too is believed to be in Karachi -- that Ibrahim was perfectly fine and sought to dismiss all rumours.

CNN-News18 had reported last year that Dawood has crippling gangrene in his legs and was receiving treatment at his posh residence in the upscale Clifton neighbourhood of Karachi, sources said.

Sixty one-year-old Dawood is wanted in India for organising and financing the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts that left 257 dead and 717 injured. The blasts were carried out with the help of his subordinates, Tiger Memon and Yakub Memon. In July 2015, Yakub Memon was hanged to death for this crime, while Dawood and Tiger are still free.

Indian intelligence sources believe news about Dawood’s latest medical condition is being kept a secret by Pakistan, which has always denied that he lives in that country. They believe there would be no official announcement in case he dies because it would be difficult for Pakistan to admit his presence in Karachi.

Dawood fled to Dubai in the 1980s after the Mumbai Police crackdown on the underworld, and left for Pakistan under the protection of the country’s intelligence agency ISI.

The last exhaustive account of Dawood's life in Pakistan appeared in a Karachi-based magazine Newsline in the year 2001. The reporter Ghulam Hasnain was reportedly harassed by the ISI and the Pakistani Army over the article, which busted Islamabad's links with Dawood. The magazine's website doesn't have a link to that story now.

If Hasnain's account is to be believed, Dawood, then a 46-year-old, led a very colourful life. Hasnain wrote that Dawood lived like a king in a palatial house spread over 6,000 square yards, with swimming pool, tennis courts, snooker room and a high-tech gym. He wore designer clothes, owned top of the line Mercedes cars and four-wheel drives.

The legends are many and at one point he was said to have bailed out the Pakistan Central Bank.

Pakistan not only gave Dawood shelter, but also a conducive hunting ground for his criminal network. Pakistani hitmen hired by Dawood, Hasnain's article said, attempted to kill his earlier No. 2 Chhota Rajan at his flat in Bangkok.ALSO READ: 23-Year Pak Lie Exposed: Watch Video of Dawood's House in Karachi

The hitmen went with a birthday cake to wish Rajan on his birthday, but managed to kill only his aide and wife. The shooting was later depicted in detail in a Bollywood film 'Company' believed to be based on the lives of Dawood and Rajan.

Bitter rivals today, Dawood and Rajan built the D-company toppling the don of Bombay underworld and their mentor Haji Mastan. Together, they rewrote the rules of the underworld, not hesitating to kill their rivals without a blink.

Son of a police inspector, Dawood, built a network of informants in Mumbai Police, which allegedly works to his advantage even today.ALSO READ: Dawood Ibrahim Crippled By Gangrene. Are His Days Numbered?