Haji Mastan’s daughter serves legal notice on don’s ‘adopted son’

MUMBAI: Haji Mastan is dead, but that doesn’t entitle anyone to exploit his name for criminal purposes. The message was sent out loud and clear by the don’s youngest daughter, who served a legal notice on Mastan’s former associate Sunder Shekhar.

Shamshad Supariwalla, 40, also acting on behalf of her two elder sisters, has alleged that Sunder had been falsely passing himself off as the “adopted son” of the don to carry out illegal activities.

Shamshad served the notice on Sunder on December 17. “We want Sunder to stop using our father’s name for carrying out illegal activities,” she said.

Mastan had three daughters -  Kamrunissa, Mehrunissa and Shamshad. While Kamrunissa and Shamshad are Mumbai residents, Mehrunissa is settled in London.

His daughters have claimed that recently they came to know about  the “exploitation of their father’s name ” by Shekhar. Every time a police complaint was lodged against him, he sought reprieve by claiming to be Mastan’s son.

“We say that you are neither a biological son, nor Haji Mastan Mirza, our deceased father, had ever adopted you or introduced you to the society during his lifetime as his adopted son,” stated the notice.

In June 2007, Shamshad took over as president of Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh(BMSM), an outfit founded by Mastan in 1989.  After Mastan’s death in 1994, Sunder had looked after BMSM as its chairman till 2007.

Even his visiting card proclaims the same. “We further say that our father has founded a political party, and you are merely an acquaintance of his,” the daughters said in the notice.

Sunder admitted that he had received the notice. “The world knows me as Mastan’s adopted son. Whatever was there, was between me and him. He used to call me Suleiman Mirza.  It’s just that I did not change my caste,” said an enraged Sunder. “But there is no written document to prove it (my claim).  However, my advocate would reply to her notice,” he added.