New Delhi/ Mumke: He’s India’s most wanted man, and has been on the run for well over two decades now. But for people in Maharashtra’s Mumke, any news on Dawood Ibrahim has a special significance – this remote village is where his parents lived.
The house his father Ibrahim Kaskar built still stands near the entrance to the village. A two-storey building is indeed hard to miss. Marked with names of lovers, the house is now just a fragment of memory.
“It was made by his family,” said Akbar Duduke, the sarpanch of the village. “They never really lived here for a long time, and now I think it is under government control,” Duduke, added. Villagers, he said, have been told not to go in there due to the dilapidated condition of the house.
One of the nearly 150 homes in Mumke village still houses Dawood’s extended family. “Some of his uncles and aunts stay here. Their children are abroad. They are very peaceful people and are treated like any other person in the village,” he said.
“I used to play cricket with Dawood. I also attended his wedding in Mumbai in 1986,” he remembered. He added how Dawood never had a liking for drinking and smoking, and was clearly not the man whom the world hates today.
For a village that is internationally known for being the hometown of one of the world’s most dreaded criminals, Duduke assured that the village was peaceful.
“There is no record of any violence or disorder. The police does come from time to time, but there is no communal problem,” said Duduke.
The village, however, does not have any facilities for medical care. The sarpanch added that the villagers have to travel to Khed for any sort of medical assistance as it houses the nearest medical store. The same goes for education- the nearest English medium school is in Khed.
“We have to travel for both these basic things in life. People are used to it now,” said Duduke.
One look at the village and anyone can figure out the village has a come a long way from the infamous Dawood history. Most of the men from the Muslim community here work abroad, and send in money. “Houses are in good condition and every household makes it a point to send their children to school,” Duduke reasoned.
Dawood Ibrahim’s dream home, however, stands plundered and reduced to bare walls, but as Duduke puts it, “Yahi Dawood Ibrahim ka gaon hai (This is Dawood's village)”.
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