Why Dawood's wife is the real don

Something doesn't add up. We all know that gangster wives learn not to ask questions. But surely they also learn not to answer questions?

It's astonishing that Dawood Ibrahim's wife, Zubeena Zareen alias Mehjabeen Shaikh, should respond to a random telephone call (from an Indian TV channel) and give information about her husband, who is wanted everywhere for all kinds of things - counterfeiting, drug trafficking, extortion, match-fixing, terrorism. Yet as the channel called up Dawood's residence, she not only identified herself, she said her husband was at home, sleeping: "Please call after sometime." It's so odd as to be almost surreal.

As Dawood's wife, sharing his life and the secrets of his dark world, she should be used to watching her back all the time. The cardinal principle of her life has to be silence (we've all read how the dons of the underworld do not forget or forgive those who break the code of silence.) So, why is she picking up the phone at home and talking to random people?

Even if is she is living a fairly open life in Pakistan - with the big bosses of government, army and business as her neighbours in the tony Clifton area of Karachi - she should know that her husband is no ordinary high and mighty. All their phones are likely to be under scrutiny - not just by Pakistan. But, then, the wives of mafia bosses often don't get involved in things their husbands do, even if they sense the blood on their hands. Is she like that?

There's very little information about Mehjabeen out there: Why does she use an alias and since when? How old is she? There are very few of her photographs in public sphere and most are grainy and old. From stray information we know that she is from India and possibly from the infamous Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai, where Dawood grew up and where her father's brother, Salim Kashmiri, lives even now.

What else do we know? That she requested Javed Chutani, "Doctor", who heads D-gang's cricket betting syndicate, to get her a Chanel bag from Dubai (calls intercepted during police investigations over IPL-6 cricket scandal). Which is slightly odd: isn't Dubai like a second home for the Ibrahims?

Some say that she is the moving spirit behind her family: She got her daughter Mahrukh married to former cricketer Javed Miandad's son, Junaid. In fact, she first mooted the idea to Miandad's wife, her "very good friend". According to some, she is the only person her powerful husband is scared of. He organises wild parties while she is away, which are packed up if by chance she suddenly arrives - including all traces of young women she wouldn't approve of.

Like all mafia wives, Mehjabeen remains an enigma.