Neither dead, nor critical; Dawood Ibrahim is fit and fine: Chhota Shakeel

New Delhi, Apr 29: With unverified news reports stating that India’s most wanted underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim is in a critical condition after suffering a heart attack, his close aide Chhota Shakeel has dismissed them as baseless, saying Dawood is ‘fit and fine’.

Speaking to an Indian news paper, Shakeel also refuted reports, some in the Pakistani media, that Dawood had passed away following the attack. “Listening to my voice, do you think any such thing has happened? These are all rumours,” he said over a telephone conversation from Karachi. “Bhai is fit and fine.”

Unverified news reports began surfacing last evening that Dawood, who is reportedly residing in Pakistan, suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Karachi’s Aga Khan Hospital. Some reports claimed he was in a critical condition while others said he had passed away.

The 61-year-old fugitive is India’s most wanted, responsible for executing the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts that left 257 people dead and close to 800 injured.

It is widely believed that Dawood Ibrahim resides in Pakistan. In August of last year, the United Nations Security Council struck off three address from a list of six that India had submitted in a routine update.

Of the remaining three addresses in the UN database one is a vague entry “Palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad in Karachi”. The other two addresses are listed as “Karachi, Pakistan (White House, Near Saudi Mosque, Clifton)” and “House Nu 37 – 30th Street – defence, Housing Authority, Karachi, Pakistan”.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Gujarat high court granted bail to Umar Ismail Bukhari alias Mamumiya Panjumiya, an alleged aide of Dawood Ibrahim. This is in connection with a 1993 arms haul case lodged in Ahmedabad.