MUMBAI: Way back in 1995, Baba Siddique was an ebullient, brash, smooth-talking young Congress corporator from Bandra West, attired in a chic pair of jeans and a T-shirt when this correspondent first encountered him in the corridors of the BMC headquarters. As Mumbai’s real estate market flourished towards the end of the last century, so did Siddique’s political career and fortunes as he built his real estate empire.
By 1998, the new slum rehab policy, offering free homes to eligible families, unveiled a new frontier for several builders who unearthed a treasure trove in prime slum properties, especially in the western suburbs between Bandra, Khar and Santacruz, where the late politician had a formidable influence.
Siddique was known to be intimate with the Wadhawans of HDIL, one of the trailblazers in the field of rehabilitating slumdwellers and then utilising a portion of the plot to construct luxury residential towers and commercial buildings.
Among the first significant SRA projects to be executed with Siddique’s assistance was Daulat Nagar slum in Santacruz West, which was redeveloped by Rakesh Wadhawan of HDIL and builder-turned-Congress politician from Rajasthan Rafique Mandelia, a close confidant of Siddique. Mandelia is worth Rs 166 crore, according to his declared assets during last year’s assembly elections in Rajasthan.
In 1999, Siddique contested for the assembly elections from Bandra West and won comfortably. He was now an MLA as well as a corporator. It was during this phase that he became acquainted with the workings of BMC’s building proposal department in the western suburbs and knew every official in thisdepartment, which approved building plans. Market sources said the former MLA was well-informed of the facts of every new tower and slum redevelopment project in his constituency, and that no building occupation certificate could be procured without his knowledge.
In 2004, Siddique registered his construction firm, Zears Developers Pvt Ltd. One of the first projects was the Link Square mall in the shopping district of Linking Road in Bandra.On 16th Road he redeveloped an old society plot and constructed a residential tower called Shiv-Asthan Heights. Near Pali Naka, Bandra, the Siddiques built a residential highrise called Maqba Heights, where the extended family resides.
A luxury tower at Bandra Reclamation, 81 Aureate, located near a slum, got Siddique into trouble in 2017. The Enforcement Directorate raided him for alleged money laundering and attached 33 high-end apartments in the building. The case later collapsed and the flats were released. A Bandra builder said the former MLA’s business empire would be worth “at least Rs 15,000 crore”. “Not many know that he had business interests in Dubai and London, too,” he said. “He was helpful and had friends from all walks of life.”