India’s Superpower Euphoria LXXV
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http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/11/05/indias-superpower-euphoria-lxxv/
05 11 10 Written by navanavonmilita
Video: Mumbai Gangster in Police Custody
Crime Branch gets Bunty Pandey, finally
Express News Service
Tags : crime, Prakash Narayan Pandey, arrested, mumbai
Posted: Fri Nov 05 2010, 04:20 hrs
Mumbai:
Fugitive tracked down in Vietnam
Fugitive gangster Prakash Narayan Pandey alias Bunty Pandey, for years
running an extortion racket from overseas hideouts, has been tracked
down in Vietnam, brought to India and arrested by the Mumbai Police
Crime Branch in a joint operation with the CBI’s Interpol wing.
Police said Pandey had been living in Vietnam under a false identity —
Vijay Subhash Sharma, 40, labour contractor—- while running his
operations in India.
“He was brought to Delhi airport last night. This morning he was
brought to the city and taken into custody by the Mumbai Police Crime
Branch. He is a notorious criminal who was a former member of the
Chhota Rajan gang and then floated his own gang. He has 34 cases
against him, 13 in Mumbai and 21 in Uttarakhand,” said Mumbai Police
Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal.
After the Crime Branch had passed information on to Interpol, Pandey
was detained in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday and flown to India. He
was produced at the Esplanade Court and remanded in police custody
till November 12.
“Since 2002, Pandey has been living in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand,
Singapore, Bangladesh and Nepal. We have recovered an Indian passport
under the name Vijay Subhash Sharma with a date of issue shown as
1999. The issuing authority is the Indian Embassy in Phnom Penh. We
are verifying if the document is genuine,” Joint CP (Crime) Himanshu
Roy said.
The Crime Branch has booked Pandey in a 2009 case for trying to extort
from the Ravi group, active in the western suburbs.
“Pandey’s arrest is a blow to the extortion racket. It will help us
get details how fugitive gangsters operate, and about their local
aides. It will also serve as a strong message to other fugitive
gangsters such as Ravi Pujari and Hemant Pujari,” said Roy.
Indian mafia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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available on the talk page. (May 2009)
See also: Mafia Raj
The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found
in some of India‘s major cities. The “Indian Mafia” also refer to
powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.
Mumbai underworld
Mumbai’s first recorded bank robbery was committed by a man with a
fake name, “Anokhelal”. He came to Mumbai from Delhi after seeing the
American movie Highway 301 (1950). He formed a gang of local criminals
and committed the robbery after doing two rehearsals at the bank which
were not noticed by the staff. The movie was later banned in Mumbai.
The bank attacked was The Lloyds Bank at Fort in Mumbai. Rs 16 lakhs
were stolen and the security guard was killed. The police solved the
robbery based on information about a Rs 10,000 worth “Chaddar” that
was laid at Haji Ali Dargah.
The first of mafia elements, or syndicates, perhaps had their origins
in the gambling and bootleg liquor dens set up by a criminal named
Karim Lala[1] in the 1940s. There was also a don named Rama Naik who
hailed from Byculla a close associate of Bada Rajan and mentor of Arun
Gavli. He reigned from 70 to 1987 when he was encountered on the
behest of Dawood.Bada Rajan 1970–83. Currently the biggest such
underworld leader is Dawood Ibrahim.
In the illegal opium trade, the earliest dated mafia family was the
Thane-based (Mumbai) Thanevale gang that was responsible for over 80%
of the opium and heroin trafficking in the 1860s according to an
article by Harkisondas Thanawala (1965).
Activities
India is a major transit point for heroin coming in from the Golden
Triangle and Golden Crescent to Europe. India is also the world’s
largest legal grower of opium, and experts estimate that 5–10% of the
legal opium is converted into illegal heroin and 8–10% is consumed in
high quantities as concentrated liquid. The pharmaceutical industry is
also responsible for a lot of illegal production of illegal mandrax,
much of which is smuggled into South Africa. Diamond smuggling via
South Africa is also a major criminal activity, and diamonds are also
sometimes used to disguise shipments of heroin. Finally, a lot of
money laundering takes place in the country, mostly through the use of
the traditional hawala system, although India has criminalised money
laundering as of 2003.[2]
Bangalore Underworld
Bangalore’s underworld dates back to the late 1960s, when Kodigehalli
Mune Gowda became the first underworld don.In the beginning he
controlled all of Bangalore, and his basic revenue source was
hafta(protection money) from brothels and arrack shops. In the ‘70s,
Kotwal Ramachandra and Jayaraj entered the field. Wine shops, massage
parlours, game parlours were added to the list. They had political
affiliations.The scene changed in the 1980s and ‘90s, when young Turks
entered the field like Muthappa Rai, Agni Shridhar in 1990 to 1995
Boot House Kumar or Oil Kumar, Bekkina Kannu Rajendra, Srirampura
Kitty, Jedarahalli Krishnappa, Pushpa, Kala Pathar and Ele Naga
emerged.
At the same time, the slum underworld became active, with Abu Shair,
Koli Fayaz, Tanvir, Ishtiyak, Sajjad, Nazir, hibbath, Tarakari Khaleel
and Chappal Hamid. Bangalore was virtually a battleground, as these
operators stretched their businesses to all possible revenue earning
sectors.[3]
Bangalore mafia and Movies
A movie called Om was made, which exposed the underworld activities of
Bangalore with its realistic narration. Later many followed it.
Recently Aa Dinagalu which centred around Bangalore underworld of 80′s
was a big hit among the people.
Indian mafia in popular culture
Crime films revolving around the Indian mafia, particularly the Mumbai
underworld, have been common in Indian cinema since the 1950s,
evolving into a distinct genre known as Mumbai noir in the late 1990s.
[4] The genre has its origins in the 1950s, with the Raj Kapoor films
Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) being some of the earliest films
involving the Mumbai underworld. In the 1960s, Shakti Samanta‘s China
Town (1962), starring Shammi Kapoor and Helen, dealt with the criminal
underworld that existed in Chinatown, Kolkata, at the time. It was the
earliest film to introduce the plot element of a look-alike working as
an undercover agent impersonating a gangster, an idea that was used
again Don (1978) and many later films inspired by it.[5]
In the 1970s and early 1980s, many of the most well-known classic
Bollywood movies were based around themes of fighting criminals and
corruption at a time when crime was rising and authorities were
powerless. Classic Amitabh Bachchan films depicted the underworld and
the protagonists attempting to overcome it, including Prakash Mehra‘s
Zanjeer (1972), Yash Chopra‘s Deewar (1975), Manmohan Desai‘s Amar
Akbar Anthony (1977), Chandra Barot’s Don (1978) and Vijay Anand‘s Ram
Balram (1980). In particular, Deewar, which Danny Boyle described as
being “absolutely key to Indian cinema”, was a crime film pitting “a
policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life
smuggler Haji Mastan“, portrayed by Bachchan.[6] Most Bollywood crime
movies at the time were fairly unrealistic with the masala style of
action and plots. In Parallel Cinema on the other hand, the Calcutta
trilogies of Bengali film directors Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray,
particularly the 1976 film Jana Aranya (The Middleman), dealt with the
Calcutta underworld in a more realistic manner.
In the late 1980s, Parallel Cinema filmmakers began producing more
realistic Bombay underworld films, with an early example being Mani
Ratnam‘s Tamil film, Nayagan (1987), based on the life of the Bombay
don, Varadarajan Mudaliar, portrayed by Kamal Haasan. Nayagan was
included in Time Magazine‘s “All-Time 100 Best Films” list, issued in
2005.[7] In Malayalam Abhimanyu, Aaryan directed by priyadarshan and
Indrajaalam directed by Thambi kannamthanam depicts story or Munmbai
underworld. The Bombay underworld was also depicted in Mira Nair‘s
Academy Award nominated Hindi film Salaam Bombay! (1988). The
underworld was also depicted in several other National Film Award
winning films, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra‘s Parinda (1989) starring
Anil Kapoor, Mukul S. Anand‘s Agneepath (1990) starring Bachchan, and
Sudhir Mishra‘s Dharavi (1991) also starring Om Puri.
Movie poster for Ram Gopal Varma‘s Satya (1998), considered the
beginning of the Mumbai noir genre.
In the late 1990s, Ram Gopal Varma‘s Satya (1998) marked the
introduction of a new genre of film making, Mumbai noir, of which he
is the acknowledged master.[4] The critical and commercial success of
Satya led to an increased emphasis on realism in later Mumbai
underworld films. Varma’s next Mumbai noir film was Company (2002),
based on the D-Company, a real-life criminal organization. Satya and
Company both gave “slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai
underworld”, and displayed realistic “brutality and urban
violence.”[6] Satya won six Filmfare Awards, including the Critics
Award for Best Film, while Company won seven Filmfare Awards. A
prequel to Company was released in 2005, entitled D (2005), produced
by Varma and directed by Vishram Sawant. Varma’s three films Satya,
Company and D are together considered an “Indian Gangster Trilogy”.[8]
Varma also directed an Indian adaptation of The Godfather novel in a
Mumbai underworld setting, called Sarkar (2005), and has more recently
filmed an original sequel called Sarkar Raj (2008).
Mahesh Manjrekar‘s Vaastav: The Reality (1999) is another film that
depicts the Indian mafia. Anurag Kashyap‘s Black Friday (2004) is
based on S. Hussein Zaidi’s book of the same name about the 1993
Bombay bombings, which involved the underworld organization, the D-
Company.[6] Vishal Bharadwaj‘s Maqbool (2004) and Omkara (2006) are
modern-day Indian mafia interpretations of the William Shakespeare
plays Macbeth and Othello, respectively. Farhan Akhtar‘s Don – The
Chase Begins Again (2006) is a remake of Barot’s original 1978 Don
with Shahrukh Khan taking Bachchan’s place in the title role. Apoorva
Lakhia‘s Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007) is based on a real-life 1991
incident involving Commissioner Aftab Ahmed Khan and the Lokhandwala
Complex. Waaris (2008) is an Indian television series on Zee TV with
the Indian mafia as its background. The Mumbai underworld has also
been depicted in Madhur Bhandarkar‘s Traffic Signal (2007) and Rajeev
Khandelwal‘s Aamir (2008).
Danny Boyle‘s Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008),
based on Vikas Swarup‘s Boeke Prize winning novel Q & A (2005), has
also portrayed the Indian mafia, under the influence of earlier Mumbai
noir films.[9] Boyle has cited previous Bollywood portrayals of the
Mumbai underworld in Deewar, Satya, Company and Black Friday as direct
influences on the film.[6][10] The Hollywood film Shantaram, based on
Gregory David Roberts‘s Shantaram novel, also features the Indian
mafia in its storyline. The film is being directed by Mira Nair and
stars Johnny Depp in the lead role.
Indian mafia was widely portrayed in 2009 Bollywood’s 2009 critically
acclaimed film Kaminey.
Bollywood connections
The Indian mafia is notoriously heavily involved in Mumbai’s Bollywood
film industry, providing films with funding and using them as fronts
for other activities.[citation needed] Although in recent times police
investigations have forced mobsters to make their activities more
subtle, for most of Bollywood’s existence stars openly displayed their
mafia connections, attending parties with mafia dons and using their
help to gain new roles.[11]
See also
* Mafia Raj
* D-Company
* Thuggee
* Mumbai Encounter Squad
* TADA
References
1. ^ “Karim Lala is dead”. The Hindu, February 20, 2002.
2. ^ [www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Nats_Hospitable.pdf Nations
Hospitable to Organized Crime and Terrorism - Library of Congress
report]
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ a b Aruti Nayar (2007-12-16). “Bollywood on the table”. The
Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071216/spectrum/main11.htm.
Retrieved 2008-06-19.
5. ^ CineGoer.com – Nostalgia – Bhale Thammudu
6. ^ a b c d Amitava Kumar (23 December 2008). “Slumdog
Millionaire’s Bollywood Ancestors”. Vanity Fair.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2008/12/slumdog-millionaires-bollywood-ancestors.html.
Retrieved 2008-01-04.
7. ^ “Time Magazine All time best 100 movies”. Time Magazine. 2005.
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html.
Retrieved September 2, 2008.
8. ^ \ Final film in Indian Gangster Trilogy a Must See|
publisher=Cinema Strikes Back|date=2005-08-24|url=http://
www.cinemastrikesback.com/index.php?p=562|accessdate=2009-02-22}}
9. ^ Christian Jungen (April 4, 2009). “Urban Movies: The Diversity
of Indian Cinema”. FIPRESCI. http://www.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2009/fribourg/indian_cinema_chjungen.htm.
Retrieved 2009-05-11.
10. ^ “All you need to know about Slumdog Millionaire”. The
Independent. 21 January 2009.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/all-you-need-to-know-about-slumdog-millionaire-1452119.html.
Retrieved 2009-01-21.
11. ^ BBC News – Analysis – Bollywood and the mafia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3152662.stm
External links
* FrontLine Magazine Report Volume 20 – Issue 04, February 15 –
28, 2003
* Godfather III: The Terrorist
v • d • e
Organized crime groups in Asia
National groups
Chinese Triad • Indian mafia • Japanese Yakuza • Kkangpae (South
Korea) • Tamurats (Turkey)
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_mafia“
Categories: Organized crime groups in Asia | Gangs in Asia | Indian
mobsters | Organized crime in India
* This page was last modified on 22 October 2010 at 07:47.
* Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License;
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Mumbai’s underworld is back in business
Last updated on: August 3, 2010 12:48 IST
Is there a connection between the Mumbai police’s guns falling silent
and the spurt in underworld activity? N Ganesh reports
There have been very few police encounters in 2010, and the last one
was on April 7, of Dilip Yadav, a dacoit who was gunned down in a
joint operation by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police and
the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh at Malad in north Mumbai.
The police appears to have drawn a curtain on encounters following
judicial intervention that put the encounter specialists in the dock.
There is a theory going around among many senior officials in the
police force that the fear of being killed in a police encounter no
longer looms over the gangsters, and who have therefore become more
conspicuous.
The brazenness of the Mumbai underworld has been witnessed lately with
the killing of gangster Farid Tanasha, a member of the Chhota Rajan
gang on June 3 at his residence in Tilak Nagar, Chembur, a suburb in
eastern Mumbai known to be a stronghold of the Rajan gang.
The police now suspects Bharat Nepali, a former Rajan gang member who
is absconding, is wanted in 17 criminal cases and operates from
foreign soil, to be behind the killing. Though Tanasha’s killing may
seem like one stray incident in the crime statistics of Mumbai, there
are other incidents, too, which show clearly that the city’s
underworld is back in business.
Image: File picture of the Mumbai police inspecting an encounter site
Photographs: Rediff Archives
It is not the Dawood Ibrahims, Chhota Shakeels and Chhota Rajans who
are at the forefront of the current spurt in crime, but their cronies
who are determined to create a niche for themselves in the highly
competitive world of the Mumbai underworld.
Gangsters like Bharat Nepali, Ravi Pujari, Bunty Pandey, Vicky
Malhotra, Sunil Poddar are the ones who are calling the shots in the
underworld.
Between 1993 and 2003, some 600-odd criminals were eliminated by the
Mumbai police. A majority of these encounters have been credited to a
few elite cops of the Mumbai police who are now out of action after
facing a probe under various charges of fake encounters, custodial
deaths and harbouring disproportionate assets.
Inspector Praful Bhosale and assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze
faced a probe for the disappearance of Khwaja Yunus, arrested for the
December 2002 bomb blast in a local bus at Ghatkopar.
Inspector Bhosale has 90 encounters to his name while Vaze has 63
encounters.
While subinspector Daya Nayak with 83 encounters recently got a
reprieve, as the Supreme Court struck down the Maharashta Control of
Organised Crimes Act case against him filed by his friend turned foe
Ketan Tirodkar, he is still to be reinducted.
And inspector Pradeep Sharma, the most feared of the lot with 113
encounters to his name, is now under suspension facing a court
monitored probe in the 2006 encounter of Ramnarayan alias Lakhan
Bhaiya.
Image: Subinspector Daya Nayak with 83 encounters to his name recently
got a reprieve from the apex court
Photographs: Rediff Archives
History seems to be repeating for the Mumbai police. In 1998, the
Bombay high court came down heavily on them for the killing of alleged
gangster Javed Fawda, who later turned out to be an innocuous peanut
vendor. They face a similar situation now.
In 1998, strictures passed by the courts prompted the Mumbai police to
put a complete freeze on encounters.
With that, the city witnessed a spate of violent face-offs among rival
gang members. That year, the city registered a record 100 inter-gang
shootouts.
Naturally, it was only a matter of time before the police called off
their self-restraint. Once that happened in 1999, several prominent
gangsters of the Rajan, Salem, Gawli and Naik gangs were eliminated.
So dreaded was the fear of police encounters that Sunil Ghate of the
Gawli gang, who was booked in several criminal cases, surrendered
before the high court despite being an elected corporator.
The Mumbai police’s tryst with encounters with dreaded criminals began
in1982 when gangster and dacoit Manya Surve was gunned down at Wadala
by the Mumbai police team led by sub-inspectors Raja Tambat and Issac
Bagwan.
“Encounters are like applying BandAid on the gangrene of crime. It
seems to provide some respite in gang action but does not provide a
permanent solution,” a senior city police officer told rediff.com, who
believes that effective policing is more potent than encounter
killings in controlling crime.
Image: Mumbai police personnel demonstrate self-defence skills
Photographs: Punit Paranjpe / Reuters
Mumbai’s Underworld: When smuggling was just business
Mid-Day.com, Updated: July 29, 2010 16:03 IST
Mumbai: Post-Independent India was a land of golden opportunity. And
one of the many hands that grabbed that opportunity was a man who
toiled for 12 hours a day at the docks in Bombay. The man we grew up
to know as Haji Mastan.
In the early 70s, dons like Haji Mastan ruled the roost with the pure
intent of making money. It was a profitable era devoid of supari
killings, gang wars and shoot-outs.
Born to a humble family of farmers in Tamil Nadu, Mastan Haider Mirza
first came to the city in 1954 in search of greener pastures. He
joined as a daily wager at the docks earning a paltry sum of Rs. 5 per
day.
Frustrated at the hand-to-mouth existence and his inability to earn
money, Mastan turned to smuggling imported watches, radios and gold
biscuits from the docks. The money started flowing in and soon he
began roping in more coolies to handle his operations.
In the late 50s, the state government imposed a prohibition on alcohol
and that created the perfect opportunity for Mastan to cash in.
Rampant smuggling of liquor ensured profits for everyone involved in
the process, right from the hands that smuggled the bottles to the
hands that poured it in glasses across the city.
Mastan was a peaceful person and never advocated violence in his
business. He believed in the concept of making money and sharing the
spoils with the chain of people involved in the game.
It was a smooth ride for the smugglers as there were no murders or
shoot-outs and therefore no criminal cases were registered. The cops
were happy with the weekly under-the-table arrangement and never came
knocking at their doors.
However, that era of thriving business was soon replaced by a
bloodbath on the streets with the advent of dons like Dawood Ibrahim,
Sayed Batla, Amirzada, Rama Naik and Babu Reshim.
One particular incident that sounds right out of a Bollywood masala
flick was when Sayed Batla, a dreaded gangster stormed into Mastan’s
office and threatened the ageing businessman.
“Batla kisi ka ghulam nahin hai, ke uske galey mein patta dal do,” he
screamed from Dongri at Mastan.
Mastan understood that the time had come for his business to move
ahead and needed the likes of Batla. The end of the ‘business’ era was
here.
There were other businessmen who specialised in supplying smuggled
goods to traders at Musafirkhana — a hub of smuggled goods.
Smugglers like Karim Lala hired Batla’s nemesis Dawood Ibrahim and his
elder brother Sabir. Most of these toughies were used as recovery
agents to collect money from defaulting traders at Shuklaji street and
other pockets where smuggling goods were sold in large quantities.
However, events took a nasty turn when Dawood crossed swords with
members of the Pathan faction led by Amirzada over a recovery from a
Customs agent.
The tiff resulted in the Pathan brothers killing Dawood’s brother
Sabir in 1981.
The murder launched a bloodbath that resulted in over 20 high-profile
gangsters being gunned down, including Amirzada inside the Sessions
Court in September 1983.
While Dawood had the support of gangsters like Rama Naik and Babu
Reshim, the Pathans formed their own group. It was a war between the
Konkanis and Pathans.
The killings marked the end of the smuggler’s era, most of whom had
never fired a round or stabbed an adversary. Soon after Dawood took
over the smuggling business, most of the businessmen went into
hibernation.
Mastan began dabbling with film production and distribution. He also
floated a political party Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985.
He continued to be a social worker until his death in 1994.
For NDTV Updates, follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook
Story first published: July 29, 2010 15:39 IST
Tags: dons, Haji Mastan, Mumbai underworld, smuggling
15 Aug, 2010, 02.08PM IST,PTI
A mouse click into the invincible Mumbai underworld!
Read more on »once upon a time in mumbaai|mumbai|ibibo web (p) ltd.|
emraan hashmi|ajay devgn
NEW DELHI: Imagine being a ‘bhai’ without being chased by police!
Be part of the ‘ Mumbai Underworld’, a role-playing social game, and
build your own criminal empire by buying properties and making cash
from it to purchase more properties.
Social gaming site ibibo.com has launched ‘Mumbai Underworld’ which
unleashes the rhapsody of owning the underworld, do all illegal things
and dare to be a better ‘bhai’ than others.
“We at ibibo have always endeavoured to bring games which are not only
localised but also in sync with latest in gaming arena. This game is
receiving a tremendous response from our users and has been developed
keeping in mind the aura that surrounds the underworld in Mumbai,”
says Rahul Razdan, president (products and operations), Ibibo Web (P)
Ltd.
“Mumbai Underworld is not only rich in animation and graphics but is
also interactive as one can play this game with friends as well as
with celebrities. We constantly update the Game with new items and
features so that it is not monotonous and the player comes back for
more,” Razdan said.
On ibibo.com, over two lakh fans are playing Mumbai Underworld with
Ajay Devgn , Emraan Hashmi , Kangna Ranaut and Prachi Desai, the cast
of the recently released underworld flick “Once Upon A Time In
Mumbaai”.
The number of users playing the game daily is more than 25,000.
Set in the alleys of Mumbai, a player aspiring to be a gangster opens
a dance bar. Then, he hires dancers, bouncers and waiters.
He uses the money earned from the bar in funding other illegal
projects. But the activities are not monitored by police.
In the game, all properties have assets which one can hire and make
more money from them and even go to the extent of fighting with
friends and stealing their property and cash.
All the properties have a shift of 12 hours but the minimum income can
be collected after 30 minutes.
There are assets available with every property which advances in money
and bonus cash. One can own arms and ammunition too.
Volume 16 – Issue 7, Mar. 27 – Apr. 9, 1999
India’s National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Mumbai’s mafia wars
The battles between and among Mumbai’s mafia groups appear to have
taken on a communal character as they seek to gain legitimacy on
communal terms.
PRAVEEN SWAMI
MUMBAI is no stranger to mafia wars. However, for the first time in
the city, the mafia’s battlefront has become nakedly communal. The
attempt to kill former Mumbai Mayor Milind Vaidya on March 4, the
second such attempt since December, is believed to have been the
outcome of efforts by top mafia groups to gain legitimacy of sorts on
communal terms. The attacks on Vaidya, a Shiv Sena leader who played a
key role in the anti-Muslim pogroms of 1992-1993, were carried out by
members of a Dubai-based group led by Shakeel Ahmad Babu, better known
as Chhota Shakeel. The Chhota Shakeel group says that its actions are
aimed at avenging the murders of some persons accused of a role in the
Mumbai serial blasts of 1993 and that behind these actions are members
of the gang led by the Malaysia-based Rajendra Nikhalje, or Chhota
Rajan.
The March 4 attempt was carried out with precision. At 10-15 p.m.,
Vaidya was sitting with six other people in the porch of his Mori Road
residence in the Mahim area. A van pulled up outside the gate and
gunmen opened fire from inside the van with Kalashnikov assault
rifles. (These rifles are believed to be among the 150-odd that were
brought into the country before the Mumbai serial blasts and that
remain to be recovered.) Vilas Akre and Milind Chowdhury, who had come
to visit Vaidya, died instantly. Vaidya, Deepak Akre, Nischal
Chowdhury, Vinay Akre and Babu Mangale were seriously injured. A wall
riddled with bullets and splattered with blood illustrates the
intensity of the firing. Police guards who were stationed there were
apparently unable to respond to the attack.
Vaidya had survived an earlier assassination attempt. On the afternoon
of December 17, 1998, his station wagon was intercepted on the Bandra-
Mahim Causeway by two gunmen, who disappeared into the crowd after the
attack. He was hit by a bullet, which lodged itself in his neck, after
shattering his jaw. The attack was too sudden for Vaidya’s bodyguard
Romesh Londhe, a police constable, to respond. This attempt was
initially attributed to a property dispute in the Mahim area. Four
persons, allegedly members of the Arun Gawli gang, were arrested on
the basis of Vaidya’s claims that they had threatened him for
protecting a builder who faced extortion demands.
However, intelligence, along with the arrest of Zakir Mohammad
Siddiqui for his role in the December 17 assassination attempt,
brought to light the fact that it was Chhota Shakeel who ordered the
attacks in response to earlier actions by the Chhota Rajan gang. (In
1998, the Chhota Rajan gang began wreaking summary vengeance on
persons who were charged with a role in the Mumbai blasts. Ninety-
seven such persons were released on bail. Many people were worried
that the trial could come unstuck. In an evident bid to harvest Hindu
communal sentiment on the issue and to secure the tacit support of the
Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance Government, Chhota Rajan is
alleged to have ordered the killings of those who were out on bail.)
Salim Kurla was the first to be killed. Kurla, who was charged with
having played a central role in the landing of the weapons and
explosives that enabled the serial blasts, was killed on April 21,
1998. Mohammad Jindran, a Mumbai construction tycoon, was shot dead on
June 29. Majid Khan, another important figure in the construction
industry, was killed by the Chhota Rajan gang on March 1 this year.
Majid Khan, along with his Dubai-based brother Yakub Khan, was accused
of having harboured in a Mumbai factory a quantity of Research
Department Explosive (RDX) for the gang of the Dubai-based underworld
leader Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.
Chhota Rajan’s decision to appropriate the courts’ duty proved
fateful. Sources told Frontline that the Chhota Shakeel gang came
under pressure from its backers in Mumbai to force an end to the
killings. Reprisal seemed to be the only way in which Chhota Rajan
could be pressured, since the targeting of figures close to the
Government was expected to goad the Mumbai Police and the political
establishment to rein in the Malaysia-based mafia leader. Chhota
Shakeel says that he signalled his opposition to Chhota Rajan’s
enterprise by ordering the elimination of Shiv Sena shakha pramukh
Mohammad Salim Badgujar in March 1998. Whatever the truth, the
killings stopped after June 1998, until Chhota Rajan decided to revive
his campaign by killing Majid Khan.
In Dubai, Chhota Shakeel too decided to raise the stakes. It is not
clear why Vaidya was chosen as the target from among the many Shiv
Sena and BJP figures alleged to have been involved in the Mumbai riots
of 1992-93. Vaidya’s complicity in the violence is, however,
undisputed. Paragraph 19.20 of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission
of Inquiry describes the events on Mori Road on January 7, 1993, where
Vaidya, along with a police constable, Sanjay Gawande, “was
instigating and inciting the mob to loot, burn and set fire to the
Muslim shops.” The Commission recorded that Vaidya was arrested for
leading the violent mob. However, Manohar Joshi, as Chief Minister,
subsequently demanded Vaidya’s release, claiming that his Shiv Sena
colleague was innocent.
Some observers believe that Vaidya was targeted by the Chhota Shakeel
gang because of property disputes and not the findings in the
Srikrishna Commission report. The proposition that there may be
motives other than the stated ones for the attacks is rendered
plausible by the fact that the first attempt on Vaidya’s life was made
on December 17, well before Chhota Rajan’s gang members killed Majid
Khan. Nor does Badgujar’s assassination have a clear causal link with
Jindran’s murder. Clearly, the Chhota Shakeel gang was seeking to
regain its somewhat fragile support base in Mumbai by projecting
itself as the guardian of the city’s Muslim community. In this, its
political objectives mirrored those of the Chhota Rajan gang.
PUNIT PARANJPE
Policemen examine a wall riddled with bullets and splattered with
blood at former Mumbai Mayor Milind Vaidya’s home in Mumbai. The
attempt to kill Vaidya, a Shiv Sena leader who played a key role in
the anti-Muslim pogrom of 1992-93, was made by members of a Dubai-
based group led by Chhota Shakeel.
HOW did these groups come to structure their conflicts along communal
lines? One of the many ironies of the confrontation between them is
that both Chhota Rajan and Chhota Shakeel were Dawood Ibrahim’s
lieutenants – allies in what was a firmly ‘secular’, though criminal,
enterprise. Both affiliated themselves with Dawood Ibrahim early in
his career. The processes that tore apart Chhota Rajan and Chhota
Shakeel are rooted in the communalisation of Mumbai itself, a process
which crystallised after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, with the
anti-Muslim riots of 1992-93 and the subsequent serial blasts.
Born on December 31, 1955, Dawood Ibrahim is the son of a former
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) havaldar, Ibrahim Kaskar. The
collapse of the Mumbai textile industry in the 1980s and the urban
despair that it caused provided the backdrop for Dawood Ibrahim’s
spectacular rise. After falling out with Amirzada Pathan and his
brother Alamzeb Pathan, two major figures in Mumbai’s underworld who
associated themselves with the Karim Lala gang, Dawood Ibrahim set out
on his own. In 1981, his eldest brother, Sabir, was shot dead by the
Pathan brothers. Dawood Ibrahim promptly had Amirzada assassinated. In
1984, under pressure from both the police and Karim Lala’s gang,
Dawood moved to Dubai.
However, 41-year-old Chhota Shakeel, who grew up in Mumbai’s Nagpada
ghetto, stayed on in India to manage Dawood Ibrahim’s interests. By
the late 1980s, these interests were indeed vast. Despite his criminal
record, Dawood Ibrahim had acquired a curious respectability.
Prominent film stars were among his guests in Dubai, and his circle of
political contacts in Mumbai was legendary. Mumbai serial blasts
accused Hanif Kadawala and Samir Hingora are alleged to have helped
plough back Dawood Ibrahim’s money into the film industry through
their company. These film interests were believed to have been managed
by one of Dawood Ibrahim’s five surviving brothers. Smuggling,
extortion and land racketeering were his other major enterprises.
By 1987, however, Mumbai had become too hot for Chhota Shakeel. First
arrested in 1983 on charges of kidnapping and illegal possession of
weapons, he faced by 1987 additional charges in a spectrum of other
crimes, including extortion. Shakeel, who was arrested on December 1,
1988 at Dongri in Mumbai under the National Security Act, received
bail from the Mumbai High Court on March 28, 1989. Not surprisingly,
he moved to Dubai soon afterwards. Dawood Ibrahim’s enterprises in
Mumbai continued to flourish with the help of other key figures in his
gang, including Chhota Rajan.
As is the case with his colleagues in the underworld, Chhota Rajan too
was the product of urban despair. A Dalit from Mumbai’s eastern suburb
of Chembur, Chhota Rajan started out with extortion rackets centred on
the Sahyadri Krida Mandal, which organises the annual Ganesh festival
at Tilak Nagar. Mumbai Police intelligence dossiers list several
prominent property business houses as having contributed to the
festival. At that time, the Ganesh festival served as a platform for
mafia groups to project their social power and legitimacy.
Chhota Rajan broke away from his partners after the Mumbai serial
blasts, which are believed to have been organised by Dawood Ibrahim’s
gang under pressure from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The mafia’s economic interests were apparently under pressure for at
least a year before the blasts. Intelligence estimates suggest that
until 1991, smugglers brought around 198 tonnes of gold into India
each year. However, with the liberalisation of gold imports in 1992,
gold prices crashed, squeezing the smuggling trade. The ISI, which
controlled shipping routes from the Gulf to India’s west coast,
demanded that the mafia transport weapons and explosives into India in
return for the use of Pakistan’s waters.
BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
(From left) Dubai-based underworld leader Dawood Ibrahim; Dawood’s key
aide Chhota Shakeel and Dawood’s one-time lieutenant Chhota Rajan.
The ISI’s overtures to Dawood Ibrahim to secure his help in terrorist
activity in India are believed to have been made through Pakistani
smugglers Yusuf Godrawala and Taufiq Jallianwala. By most accounts,
initially Dawood Ibrahim resisted the pressure. After the anti-Muslim
pogroms of 1992-93, however, his position is believed to have become
vulnerable. Members of his gang, including his brother Anees and
Mumbai builder Abdul Razzak ‘Tiger’ Memon, are believed to have
demanded retaliation. In the second week of January 1993, at a late
night meeting in Dubai, Dawood Ibrahim finally endorsed the serial
blasts idea. Within a fortnight, explosives landed on the west coast,
marking the beginning of the preparation for the worst act of
terrorism in India.
Subsequent events are well known, but their motivations are not. By
1994, Chhota Rajan, having fled to Dubai after the serial blasts, left
for Kuala Lumpur, taking with him a large chunk of Dawood Ibrahim’s
leadership-level Hindu aides, including Sadhu Shetty, Jaspal Singh and
Mohan Kotiyan. Chhota Rajan claimed that he had split with his mentor
because of the serial blasts. However, in an interview to Frontline
(featured separately), Chhota Shakeel pointed out that his one-time
ally’s decision to leave Dubai came well after the Mumbai blasts.
Whatever the truth of the matter, Chhota Rajan’s departure sparked one
of the bloodiest gang wars in Mumbai’s history.
Chhota Rajan’s campaign, sought to be legitimised on the grounds that
it represented vengeance for the Mumbai blasts, claimed the lives of
several members of Dawood Ibrahim’s gang. Top leader Sunil ‘Sawtya’
Sawant, one of Dawood’s few remaining team-members who are Hindu, was
shot dead three years ago by Chhota Rajan’s hit men in Dubai. Alleged
financiers and fronts of both the groups were also hit. After Dawood
Ibrahim’s gunmen Salim Haddi and Raju Egre shot Omprakash Kukreja, a
builder, in September 1995, Chhota Rajan retaliated by eliminating
Taquiddin Waheed, head of the now-inoperative East-West Airlines, in
November 1995. Gang warfare claimed 52 lives in 1996, and the figure
has continued to rise since then.
Chhota Rajan also targeted Dawood Ibrahim’s ISI links. On June 29,
1998, Chhota Rajan’s operatives killed Mirza Dilshad Beg, a Nepalese
politician who was believed to be operating what is perhaps best
described as a “one-stop shop” for the ISI – providing to terrorists
safehouses, cover identities and storage for weapons and explosives.
Indian intelligence agencies were charged with having engineered the
assassination: the body of Chhota Rajan’s aide Vikram Wahi had been
discovered in October 1997 in the basement of a property owned by Beg.
Significantly, the war that began with the serial blasts seems to have
led to a transfiguration of the Mumbai-centred underworld’s alliances.
Chhota Rajan appears to have entered into what might be described as a
strategic partnership with Uttar Pradesh mafia leader Om Prakash
‘Babloo’ Shrivastav. Although lodged in Allahabad’s Naini Jail after
his extradition from Singapore, Shrivastav has succeeded in holding
together his formidable criminal apparatus. People targeted by Chhota
Rajan on Shrivastav’s behalf include Romesh Sharma, Dawood Ibrahim’s
alleged point man in Delhi. Romesh Sharma is believed to have
conspired with Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Abu Salem Ansari to have
Shrivastav assassinated right inside the Naini Jail.
Above all, Dawood Ibrahim’s own empire appears to be in a state of
chaos. The rise of his brother Anees Ibrahim, who is described by
associates as an aggressive and temperamental person, has sparked new
feuds. Anees Ibrahim is believed to have ordered the 1998
assassinations of Firoz Sadguru ‘Konkani’, Dawood Ibrahim’s confidant
in Mumbai, and Irfan Goga. Goga, who split from the Dawood Ibrahim
group along with Pakistani smuggler Shoaib Khan, Ijaz Pathan and Ali
Budesh, is believed to have entered into an alliance with Shrivastav.
His disappearance led the Dubai police to arrest Anees Ibrahim in
November 1998. He was, however, released because no concrete evidence
that Goga had indeed been murdered, was found.
ENTROPY in the underworld perhaps best explains the narrative, of
which the attempt on Vaidya’s life marks just one brief episode.
Chhota Rajan’s efforts to project himself as an enemy of the ISI,
determined to avenge terrorism in India, clearly seeks to gain the
support of both the Indian state and politicians who believe that a
“Hindu” underworld is somehow better than a “Muslim” underworld. For
his part, Chhota Shakeel is driven by the need to find legitimacy as
the protector of Mumbai’s Muslims.
So far, the Mumbai Police have, to its credit, shown no signs of
taking sides in the battle. But the fact that such a war is actually
taking place shows that the forces unleashed in 1992 are still far
from spent.
Mumbai Encounter Squad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion,
tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (September 2010)
The Mumbai Encounter Squad is an unofficial group within the police
force of Mumbai, India. It consists of several high-profile officers
from the Detection Unit. The squad primarily deals with members of the
Mumbai underworld and other criminal gangs and carries out the
elimination of criminals. At one point it was headed by Pradeep Sawant.
[1]
The Mumbai police‘s Crime Branch is controlled by Joint Commissioner
of Mumbai Police, and has a force of approximately 1500 officers. The
Detection Unit at the Crime Branch is considered most important, as it
deals directly with the underworld and terrorists. Fourteen units,
including the Crime Intelligence Unit, and the Fingerprint Unit, work
with the Detection Unit. The expertise of Detection Unit is used
controlling Mumbai underworld and Gang-wars. This is a Tit-For-Tat
technique used by the Indian police to kill those criminals who use
loopholes in justice system to escape justice. Considered as Men of
the Moment : Created by the police around 1997 to deal with the
growing extortion demands and threat calls to builders, realtors,
businessmen, Bollywood denizens—and also the bloodbath spilling over
onto Mumbai streets as a result of inter-gang wars—the encounter
policy was heavily dependent on men such as Nayak and Sharma. But they
were just two members of the five four/five-man squads created with
the blessings of then deputy commissioners of police Satyapal Singh
and Parambir Singh, who had the task of gathering information about
the underworld and cutting it to size. The squads soon came to be
associated with ‘encounters’, a euphemism for a situation in which a
gangster is cornered, asked to surrender, ostensibly attacks the
police or tries to escape, and is shot dead in retaliatory action. As
the encounters increased, so did the popularity of the ‘encounter
specialist’. Daya Nayak, Pradeep Sharma, Ravindra Angre, Praful
Bhosale, Raju Pillai, Vijay Salaskar, Shivaji Kolekar, Sachin Waze and
Sanjay Kadam became cult figures, mythologised by the media and hero-
worshipped by the common man.[2] “In fact, through “Encounters” which
are now known as “Police Operations”, they and their key men like
Police Inspector Daya Nayak and Sachin Waze have wiped out the
underworld from Mumbai and neighbouring Thane district.” [3]
Controlling Gang Wars in Mumbai Underworld
The Encounter Squad came into prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, when
they started dealing with Dawood Ibrahim‘s gang, also known as D-
Company. Since cracking the 1993 Mumbai Bomb blasts case, this squad
has played an instrumental role in controlling the Dawood Ibrahim,
Chota Rajan, Ashwin Naik, Ravi Pujari, Ejaz Lakdawala, Ali Budesh, and
Arun Gawli gangs in Mumbai.[4][5][6]
The first encounter occurred on January 11, 1982 when gangster Manya
Surve shot dead by police officers Raja Tambat and Isaque Bagwan at
the Wadala area.[7] The famous killing of Maya Dolas in the Shootout
at Lokhandwala bought focus on this unit for first time. More than 400
[8] criminals from different gangs were killed by this squad in
Encounter killings in last decade.
The squad was dissolved after Dawood and Chota Rajan (two rival dons)
fled India to save themselves from being targeted by sharpshooters
from rival gangs and from the Encounter Squad. Recent explosions on
Mumbai trains have triggered the re-organization of the squad.[6]
Vijay Salaskar was heading the Anti-Extortion Cell, Mumbai.[9] He was
killed on 26 November 2008 in the gun battle with terrorists taking
siege of Taj Hotel, Mumbai.[10] With Salaskar’s death and departure of
Waze, Nayak from service the encounter squad has fallen down.[11]
Fictional portrayals in popular culture
Abtak Chappan, Risk — Nana Patekar playing role of Sadhu Agashe based
on Pradeep Sharma
Company — Vivek Oberoi playing Chota Rajan, Mohanlal playing Encounter
Squad Chief
Shootout at Lokhandwala — Vivek Oberai playing Maya Dolas, Movie on
Maya’s Encounter,
Aaan-Encounter Squad — Character based on real life inspectors
Sarfarosh — Fictional story based upon the Indian Underworld.
Garv — Brothers Salman & Arbaaz Khan play roles of Inspectors of
Encounter squad
After Satya, Company, Risk, Ab Tak 56 Ram Gopal Varma will be making
the new film based on these encounter specialists in which Sanjay Dutt
will play Pradeep Sharma. While Sachin Waze’s role will be played by
Abhishek Bachchan, Daya Nayak’s role will be played by Ajay Devgan.
[12]
References
1. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/805075.cms
2. ^ Final Encounter
3. ^ Class of encounter specialists
4. ^ ALEX PERRY (January 06,2003). “Urban Cowboys”. TIME CNN.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,404315,00.html.
Retrieved on June 09, 2007
5. ^ Zubair Ahmed (June 9, 2004). “Bombay’s crack Encounter
Police”. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3786645.stm.
Retrieved on June 09, 2007
6. ^ a b Indian Express (11 December 2001). “Where Gangsters
blinked first”. in.news.yahoo. http://in.news.yahoo.com/061209/48/6a5zh.html.
Retrieved on June 09, 2007
7. ^ City’s first encounter ended two years of urban dacoity – June
22, 2002, Express India
8. ^ “India can’t keep a good don under”. Asian times. 23 June
2007. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IF23Df01.html. Retrieved
June 23, 2007.
9. ^ “Rajan Gangster dead”. times of India. 31 Oct 2007.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/Rajan_gangster_shot_dead/articleshow/2503867.cms.
Retrieved on Oct 31, 2007
10. ^ “Encounters on at Taj, Trident”. NDTV.com. 27 November 2008.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080074206.
Retrieved November 27, 2008.
11. ^ A rare breed …
12. ^ “BIG B TO STAR IN RGV’S COP FILM – HINDUSTAN TIMES”
External links
* Urban Cowboys – TIME
* Bombay’s crack ‘encounter’ police – BBC News
* India can’t keep a good don down – Asia Times
* Encounter man Pradip Sharma completes ‘century’
* India – Mumbai Mean Streets – ABC news
* Encounter specialists are back in action – Deccan Herald
* Rajan gangster shot dead – The Times of India
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Encounter_Squad“
Categories: Mumbai Police | Government of Mumbai | Indian police
officers | Organized crime in India | 1997 establishments
* This page was last modified on 16 October 2010 at 10:18.
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…and I am Sid Harth
Category: News, Views and Reviews
India’s Superpower Euphoria LXXIV