MUMBAI: Acting on a complaint filed by the Mumbai unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the VP Marg police station on Tuesday registered a case against Abdul Kader, an acquaintance of the late drug trafficker Iqbal Mirchi, for allegedly encroaching upon the erstwhile New Roshan Talkies in Khetwadi, according to officials aware of the developments.
Kader allegedly demolished the dilapidated and defunct single-screen cinema hall last year, despite knowing that the agency had attached the property, which belonged to Mirchi, as part of its money-laundering investigation into the latter’s assets in October 2020, officials said.
When an ED team reached the property in December 2024 to take possession, it found that the nearly century-old cinema hall had been flattened, as reported by HT on January 7. The agency subsequently conducted a brief inquiry into the matter and shared its findings with the police. The findings were part of the First Information Report (FIR) registered on Tuesday, a copy of which is with HT. The case was registered based on the complaint of ED’s deputy director, Amitabh Mishra, an IRS officer.
The FIR was registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to criminal trespassing; cheating, specifically when the cheating induces the delivery of property, alteration or destruction of valuable security, or a signed/sealed item capable of being converted into a valuable security; mischief causing damage to property; and disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant.
The case
In October 2020, the ED had provisionally attached seven immovable properties, including the then 90-year-old New Roshan Talkies, and seven bank account funds, in all worth ₹22.42 crore, as part of its investigation. So far, the agency has provisionally attached assets worth ₹978.87 crore in the case, officials said.
After Mirchi’s death in London in 2013, his properties were allegedly transferred through gift deeds to his sons Junaid and Asif, and his wife, Hajra Iqbal Memon. One such property was the New Roshan Talkies, which, according to ED sources, was once allegedly run by Mirchi’s relative, Mukhtar Patka. The cinema hall, built in 1930, was tucked inside the bustling Patthe Bapurao Marg in Girgaon.
A PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Adjudicating Authority had confirmed the ED’s provisional attachment of the New Roshan Talkies property, officials said. However, further proceedings, including taking physical possession of the property, were stayed by the PMLA Appellate Tribunal in Delhi, officials added.
Later, the ED learnt that efforts were being made to create third-party rights in the cinema hall property through illegal encroachment, officials said. Acting swiftly, the agency moved the PMLA Appellate Tribunal, seeking the vacation of the stay on possession, which was granted. The agency thereafter invoked PMLA section 8(4) to take physical possession of the property on December 4, 2024. However, it turned out to be too late as the property had already been demolished.
The ED then interrogated Patka, who revealed that he had managed the cinema hall from 1999 right until the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, when its operations slowed down. In October 2020, the agency attached the property as part of its money laundering investigation against Mirchi. However, even after the attachment, Patka’s employee, Iqbal Qureshi, continued to use the premises as his office and ran a retail business from there, officials said.
In September 2024, Kader allegedly contacted Patka and told him that the property was in his name and he wanted to raze the structure. Patka then told Kader that the property had been seized by the ED, so no eviction work could be done on the site. However, Kader replied that all necessary formalities had already been completed, and he started demolishing the structure in September 2024. “Abdul Kader was clearly aware that the property he was demolishing was a seized government property,” the ED told the police.
Kader’s claims
When the ED interrogated Kader, he revealed that he had known Mirchi since 1965, as they had once lived in the same neighbourhood. He claimed that he and Mirchi had jointly acquired the land and control over the New Roshan Talkies property in 1983. Thereafter, they mutually agreed to hand over the property to Patka for management and security, Kader allegedly told the agency.
Eventually, Kader allegedly entered a unilateral transfer agreement in 2023 and legally transferred the property in his name following the demise of all other relevant and interested parties. In October 2024, he demolished the previous structure located on the site of New Roshan Talkies, he told the ED.
Kader later approached a certain G Bansal to sell the plot for ₹15 crore, before signing a sale and purchase agreement with him in November. He also allegedly took a token amount of ₹99 lakh from him for this transaction. In addition, Kader allegedly sold items from the cinema, along with wooden and metal scrap materials, to a person named U Dhani for ₹5 lakh, according to the FIR.
However, Kader allegedly did not submit any documentary evidence to the ED to support his claim of the ₹5 lakh payment in connection with the property and could not clearly explain why he did not immediately execute the transfer deed after taking possession of the property in 1983. Kader also deliberately did not contact Mirchi’s legal heirs before executing the property’s unilateral transfer deed on July 13, 2023, according to the FIR.
“In this brief inquiry conducted by the ED, it has come to light that …Abdul Kader …was never the real owner of the property New Roshan Talkies, Plot-998, Pathe Bapurao Marg… and he, in collusion with unknown persons, encroached on New Roshan Talkies and demolished the structure previously existing there, which was seized by the Enforcement Directorate,” the agency told the police.
The ED’s investigation against Mirchi was initiated based on several cases registered against him and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act, and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The investigation had revealed that Mirchi was allegedly involved in drug trafficking, among other illegal activities, and had purchased multiple properties from the proceeds generated from the drug trafficking, according to the agency.