A major fire was reported from Dagdi Chawl, Mumbai underworld don Arun Gawli's hideout, in Byculla I central Mumbai shortly before midnight on Saturday.

According to fire brigade officials, the distress call was classified as call no 2, and eight fire engines were rushed to the spot. "The chawl is a cluster of houses in a wooden framework. So it was assessed as a higher emergency and more engines were dispatched," a fire control official said.

Dagdi Chawl is a fortress like structure of lower middle class homes, notorious as the headquarters of Gawli's underworld outfit. Though the don has been languishing in the jail last few years, his wife Asha and daughter Geeta Gawli, a civic corporator who heads the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Health Committee, live in the chawl.

More details are awaited.