Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar rubs shoulders with Islamic State chief Abu Bakr-al-Baghdadi and al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri on the list of world's most wanted terrorists. He also featured on the Forbes list of world's most powerful men several times, which is an evidence of his proximity to the establishment in Pakistan, where he is believed to have taken shelter after he fled India ahead of the 1993 Bombay serial blasts.
Working in tandem with Pakistani spy agency ISI, Dawood engineered the Bombay blasts that left over 250 dead and hundreds injured. In return, he got a permanent refuge and keys to a global underworld network, which he runs from the secret safe house with impunity.
Dawood's presence in Pakistan is the world's most open secret. A few journalists have claimed to have met the underworld don, but none have ever written about those meetings.
The last exhaustive account of Dawood's life in Pakistan appeared in a magazine News Line 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.
Dawood was reportedly fond of both wine and women. Black Label whiskey was his favourite drink back then, and he showered money on prostitutes. A particular fashion model, whom he took a liking to, was gifted a house and a car. The article also referred to Dawood's fling with Bollywood actress Mandakini.
Dawood's daily routine back then was king-style so to say.
His daily routine was as follows: wake up in the afternoon, take a swim and shower, have breakfast, meet his employees to discuss business. After the sun sets, Hasnain wrote, Dawood would set off for his 'safe houses' for parties which usually consisted of mujras and gambling.
Having fled India, Dawood established his own underworld in Karachi, and expanded the D-company's global empire. He ran a multimillion dollar betting and match-fixing racket in cricket. Pakistan's most powerful including political leaders and top cricketers queued up to be feted by him.
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.
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.
Former home secretary RK Singh had recently claimed the state police had foiled a plot to assassinate Dawood by arresting the key players.
Dawood, India's most wanted man, if brought back faces trial in the first big-ticket terror in India, a series of 13 bomb explosions across the country's financial capital, targeting the Bombay stock exchange, Zaveri bazaar and luxury hotels among other landmarks in 1993
If Dawood manages to avoid justice in the 1993 blasts case, it will notably be the biggest failure of India's war on terror.
As per exclusive details accessed by CNN-News18, India's most wanted has crippling gangrene in his legs. Sources say that doctors treating Dawood have said his gangrene is in an advanced stage, and they will have no other option but to amputate his legs.
The crime boss, who is now immobile, is receiving treatment at his posh residence in the upscale Clifton neighbourhood of Karachi. He is currently being treated by doctors from the Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, and the Combined Military Hospital, Karachi.
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