NEW DELHI, July 22: With even the wedding invitations being investigated by police, few will admit they’re on the guest list let alone boast they’re planning to attend the marriage in Dubai this weekend of an Indian crime don’s daughter. A mobile phone message invitation — “Your presence is solicited for the auspicious wedding of Mahrukh. For travel arrangements, contact Noorabhai. Regards, from D” — has been sent to top politicians, officials, film and media personalities in Mumbai, according to police and journalists.

It was purportedly sent by international fugitive and India’s most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim, popularly known by his first name, whose daughter Mahrukh is to marry the son of cricketing legend Javed Miandad in Dubai on Saturday.

Aside from the mobile phone text invitation — which is being probed by police for its veracity — formal wedding cards have also been sent to a select few in Mumbai.

But no one is willing to acknowledge having received the invitation from “bhai” (brother) as Dawood is also known — leave alone say whether they plan to attend the nuptials.

Mumbai police and India’s home ministry, which has chased Dawood for decades across the globe, are tight-lipped about the marriage but they say they will keep a strict watch on the guest list.

“Nobody will openly admit his or her intention to visit Dubai to attend the wedding, but we have information about some Bollywood personalities, who might take a different route to reach Dubai,” a Mumbai police official said.

Dawood’s gang is deeply entrenched in Bollywood and many actors, directors and producers have been linked with him.

A prime accused in a string of blasts that rocked Mumbai in 1993 killing at least 300 people, Dawood was declared a “global terrorist” by the United States in 2003.

After years of laying low, Dawood — a godfather-like character supported by a gang of young jobless shooters in Mumbai — is tipped to surface either at his daughter’s wedding or at the reception which is to follow in Karachi.

One Mumbai police officer, who has tracked the don’s shadowy life for over a decade, believes Dawood reached Dubai “10 to 15 days ago and is staying in a hotel”.

But he said Indian police can only wait and watch.

“We can’t do anything. They (the mafia) work through the loopholes. A surveillance team can be sent to Dubai but we don’t know whether he will emerge in Dubai or Karachi,” he said.

Both Pakistan and UAE have consistently denied that They are sheltering Dawood Ibrahim.

“I think he will attend the Dubai wedding and also the Karachi bash,” said S. Hussain Zaidi, a Mumbai crime reporter who has written a book on the 1993 blasts called “Black Friday” which has been turned into a feature film.—AFP