MUMBAI: Haroun Aleem Yusuf, currently in ED custody for helping
Iqbal Mirchi
launder money through sale of properties, comes from a family which spearheaded navigation and shipping in western India.
His grandfather was shipping mogul and philanthropist Sir Mohamed Yusuf (1876-1965) who established a marine training college at Nhava Island, marine museum at Nhava and the Ismail Yusuf College at Jogeshwari.
The family made its fortune through marine trade, and its patriarchs are entombed at one of the highest spots in the city. On Tuesday, TOI visited the blue-domed Ma Hajiani Dargah perched on a rocky outcrop opposite the Haji Ali Dargah in
Worli
. Nearby is Jahaz Mahal, Haroun's bungalow.
A couple of black safari-clad security guards man the corrugated iron gate of the mosque and the dargah. Stone steps lead to the dargah's sanctum made of white marble with an oval-shaped dome and stained-glass windows. A solitary black burqa-clad woman sits near the saint's grave, silently seeking blessings. Red shawls shroud three graves-of Ma Hajiani, sister of Haji Ali (Haji Ali Dargah trustee Sohail Khandwani, however, denied any relation with Ma Hajiani and Haji Ali), Sir Mohamed Yusuf and his father Haji Ismail Hasham Yusuf. A website says Ma Hajiani was Haji Ismail Hashan Yusuf's mother, but TOI couldn't verify it independently.
White stone plaques inform that Haji Ismail Hasham Yusuf built the shrine in 1908. He was buried here, according to his will, in 1912 and his son Sir Mohammed Yusuf too was buried between the graves of his father and Ma Hajiani.
From the dargah's elevated courtyard, an earthmover can be seen picking up the debris of a demolished building below, near the well-known highrise, Samudra Mahal. That plot is alleged to have been sold to Mirchi by Haroun, who was chairman of the Sir Mohamed Yusuf Trust that owns and manages the family properties. Neither the guards nor a manager at the Worli property would say much about the trustees or the family, except pointing us to Nhava House near Marine Lines station.
On Nhava House's first floor is the Sir Mohamed Yusuf Trust's glass-panelled office. A woman staffer takes our visiting card inside, but returns immediately and says: "Nobody is there to speak to you."
A family source told TOI: "Haroun manipulated papers and forged documents. We are taking legal opinion before we speak to the press."
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