Sena lawyer to buys more of Dawood's land

Sena lawyer to buys more of Dawood's land
ANURADHA NAGARAJ

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30: Ajay Srivastav is a 38-year-old lawyer who, between all the courtroom drama, also finds time to dig up cricket pitches, burn effigies on Valentine's day and protest against Bollywood films.

Bored with his legal briefs, the Shiv Sainik has suddenly decided that he wants to help rehabilitate vicitims of the Mumbai blasts. So he flew down to Mumbai two days back, walked into an auction and bought some of Dawood Ibrahim's property, just like that.

Back after an ``adventure in Mumbai'', the leader of Shiv Sena's student wing in Delhi, who loves being photographed, can't stop crowing about it. ``I have opened a new front against Dawood,'' he boasts, checking his image in the mirror before the flashbulb pops. ``I will wage war. I will make sure I get possession of that land and then I will use it to help the victims of the Mumbai riots. I am not scared of Dawood.''

Having bravely announced that the D Company doesn't scare him, he quickly floats a conspiracy theory. ``I know my life is under threat now,'' he says. ``Anything can happen. I am a family man and have been wondering about all the things that could go wrong. But then I think of all the ISI activity and the horror stories of the Mumbai blasts and I am enraged. I think I have done the right thing.''

Does his party think so? ``Balasaheb may not have given me directions to buy this property but his blessings are with me,'' Srivastav asserts, looking for approval from his partymen. ``I did try to meet him after the auction, but he was busy. I left a message.''

Srivastav has bought an engineering workshop, which according to him is still occupied by Dawood's people. ``I first made up my mind to pick up some of this property when Maharashtra chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that from a 100-crore-strong population there was no one who dared to buy Dawood's land,'' Srivastav explains. ``This was after the first auction in January saw no bidders. I decided to take on this man. I have bought this land and now I will build on it. Nobody can stop me.''

Having bought one property, he plans to buy more. And though he is buying everything in his name, he plans to transfer it all to the Ma Sahib Meena Tai Thackeray trust. ``Depending on what the victims need, I will either sell the property or build a centre on it. But my first biggest challenge will be to get possession of the land. Once that has happened, I will see what can be done.''

While Srivastav says he feels deeply for the victims of the blast, he adds that he is ``not mentally prepared'' to comment on the fact that his party members face charges of rioting in the period after the blasts. ``Balasaheb will respond to that,'' he says. ``I am going to help everyone who was affected then, including Muslims. I am just a generous benefactor.''