Dawood depressed over son becoming Maulana, says brother

Thane, November 25

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Absconding gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar is reported to be suffering from bouts of depression over a domestic quandary, according to police officials.

The problem lay with his third child — his only son, 31-year-old Moin Nawaz D. Kaskar. Moin Kaskar has apparently shunned the “family business" to become a Maulana, or a cleric-cum-religious teacher.

"Moin is understood to be deadly against his father's illegal activities that have given the entire family a notorious reputation worldwide and made many of them wanted fugitives everywhere," Thane Anti-Extortion Cell head Pradeep Sharma said.

Nuggets of information about the domestic strife tumbled out during Dawood’s brother Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar’s ongoing questioning. Iqbal Kaskar, Dawood’s younger brother, has been arrested in connection with three extortion cases. He has allegedly told investigators that a deeply troubled Dawood is afflicted by bouts of despondency over choosing his successor.

His other brother Anees Ibrahim Kaskar is reportedly unwell, and no other close relative could to take over “the family enterprise”, the officer quoted Kaskar as saying.

"His son is practically estranged from the family and all its businesses since the past few years, but it is not clear if he is on speaking terms with his father," said Sharma, a former "encounter specialist" who has been involved in killing several dreaded gangsters.

Iqbal Kaskar told the investigators that his nephew Moin is now a respected and qualified Maulana, who is a 'Hafiz-e-Quran', having memorised the entire Quran.

He is also believed to have given up comforts of his family family's palatial bungalow in Clifton area in Karachi’s posh Saddar suburb, instead choosing to live a mendicant's life in a mosque adjacent to their home.

His wife Saniya and their three minor children live with him in the small quarters provided by the mosque management.

Moin's main religious activities comprise teaching Holy Quran and Islamic preaching to young children, leading the call of prayers and congregation of 'namaz' at various occasions and other social-religious responsibilities associated with a cleric.

"It’s clear that Moin, who could have inherited his father's vast legal and illegal business empires, ironically, has decided to become a man of God and completely shunned a life of luxury which was at his command," Sharma said.

Moin, who is a business management graduate, is known to have helped his father in some areas of his enterprise in the past, but is gradually believed to have drifted towards a religious life.

He married a wealthy Karchi businessman's daughter, Saniya Shaikh — who helps out in her family businesses in Pakistan and Britain — in September 2011.

Of Moin's siblings, Mahrukh got married in 2006 to Junaid, son of Pakistani star cricketer Javed Miandad, and another sister, Mahreen, is married to a US-based businessman's son in early 2011.

Iqbal Kaskar had previously revealed that Dawood was in excellent health and lived in Karachi under the protective eyes of the Pakistani agencies.

The investigators hope to get more information about the gangster’s family imbroglios and provide clues to the future of his activities. IANS