But then logic doesn't seem to have played any significant role in Shaukat Sarkar's rise from driving trucks to owning a fleet of 140 LPG tankers in just under 25 years. During this time he also managed to buy two hotels - Metro Palace at Hill Road, Bandra and Metro International at Saki Naka - and construct several housing complexes across the city. Police believe that Sarkar has invested heavily in real estate. According to the information collected by them, he has bought several hundredacres of land in and around Mumbai. In Khalapur, near Panvel, he owns over 100 acres of land, while in Wangani and Karjat, he owns 20 acres each.

He had filed a declaration of Rs 3 crore under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme last year. While details of the declaration are not available, sleuths from the Investigation Wing of the Income Tax conducted a survey on his Bandra hotel and other premises on Thursday, sources said. Sarkar, however, is not new to investigating agencies in Mumbai. Following a raid by the income tax department on his office in 1988, Sarkar had admitted to concealment of wealth to the tune of Rs 4.06 crore. The individuals and companies related to his group then identified by the department were Sarkar Builders, Nasir Sarkar, Nazar Hussain Sarkar, Mushtaq Sarkar, Salim Rupani, Afzal G Ladakh, Hindustan Bulk Carriers, Rachana Builders, and Hotel Metro Palace besides Shaukat himself.

Sarkar's run of good luck began some time in 1974-75 when he invested all his savings in atanker. Police believe that while running his one-tanker transport company he made huge profits on the sly in oil pilferage. The profits were invested back into buying more tankers and thus was born the Hindustan Bulk Carriers. Sarkar, till recently a resident of the middle-class Madanpura area of Byculla, was suddenly in the big league.

And success came to Sarkar at the right time. It was the time of the construction boom of early eighties. Sarkar was quick to park all his profits in real estate. Soon he was a partner in several big housing projects and was raking in huge profits.

Sarkar's foray into car thefts is quite recent. Though nobody knows why and when Sarkar began dealing in stolen cars, he has admitted in a statement made to the police that all the stolen cars that he bought were given to his three bodyguards - Kazim, Kailash and Naseem.But police believe there is more to his association with notorious car thief Ishaq Kazi and his gang, who have till date stolen over 100 cars. Sarkar, a winnerof national citizen award, is apparently well-connected. ``We have heard of his contacts but so far he has not dropped any names,'' said senior police inspector of Crime Branch unit VII, Vilas Tupe. While there are rumours that he had gifted stolen cars to some influential personalities, including former chief minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Tupe has denied this.

It was a tiny bit of information that led to Sarkar's arrest. Exactly a week before his arrest, police were tipped off that he owned two cars with the same number. A police team was sent to his Bandra hotel where they found a white Tata Estate bearing number DL-5C-A-6236 parked in the compound. Even as they were grilling Sarkar's bodyguards, Sarkar drove in a grey Tata Sierra with the same number.

Sarkar's wife and friends, however, claim that he has been framed. ``My husband is a philanthropist. He cannot do any such thing. All these allegations are false and baseless,'' said Mehfuza Sarkar, his wife. They all admit though that Sarkarmade a mistake in buying stolen cars. That one mistake now threatens to undo all his life's work.