Dawood's Mentor

by S. Hussain Zaidi

  Khalid and Dawood swiftly rushed Amirzada to the nearby state-run J.J. Hospital to avoid police complications. They didn’t want Amirzada lying dead on their turf. The police would lose no time in implicating them in the murder. At J.J. Hospital, Khalid and Dawood discovered that Sabir’s body had also been brought into the casualty ward a few minutes before. While Sabir succumbed to his injuries, Amirzada survived. During his recuperation at J.J. Hospital, Amirzada was booked for Sabir’s murder and arrested after his discharge.

  In a bid to expedite the hearing on the case, Ibrahim Havildar often tried to seek the help of his old friend A.R. Antulay, who had by then risen in the political ranks to become the chief minister of Maharashtra in 1980. Ibrahim was deeply disturbed by the death of his eldest son. He could not believe that he had been gunned down so brutally when the chief minister of the state was his buddy.

  But Antulay could not care less as he himself was embroiled in a massive controversy about cement allotments to select builders who had, in turn, donated towards a public trust fund set up by him. Antulay was firefighting on several fronts, so for him political survival alone was top priority.

  Antulay’s opponents were baying for his blood, his own ministers were in mutiny and the protracted litigations in the Bombay High Court kept him anxious and sleepless and on his toes all the time. He was least interested in Ibrahim Havildar or justice for Sabir, who was, after all, a local ganglord.

  Eventually, less than a year after Sabir’s murder, the high court convicted Antulay of wrongdoing in what was then called ‘the cement scandal’. Antulay had to resign as chief minister. For the bereaved father, Ibrahim Havildar, Antulay was a sore disappointment. It made no difference to him that Antulay had lost his political position.

  The Kaskar family was distraught. As his father made the rounds of the chief minister’s office, Dawood, in deference to his father, did not mention anything about his own revenge formula. Sabir’s brutal murder had changed Dawood, the small-time criminal and smuggler, to Dawood, the avenger. For the first time in his life, he felt no qualms about spilling blood and taking a life. He realized that if he allowed the law to take its own course, Amirzada would probably get away with the murder. No, he wanted a life for a life, and, if need be, several lives. He did not care. He wanted to see Amirzada helpless and quaking in fear as death did its deadly dance before his eyes. He waited two long years for Amirzada to seek bail. But the wily Pathan preferred to remain in jail and did not press his lawyer for bail. Imagine, the mighty Pathans were now cowering beneath the petticoats of jailors just to avoid a chit of a boy called Dawood. The Pathans were the first to realize that Dawood was not just a menace but a real, serious threat to their fiefdom in Dongri. The boy was mad and possessed with a burning fire that was unseen and unheard of in the annals of the Bombay mafia.

  Dawood reigned at a time when Bombay had an equally deadly police commissioner. Julio Ribeiro, known for his no-nonsense hands-on approach, who later went on to wipe out terrorism from Punjab along with K.P.S. Gill, stood at the helm in Bombay. But not even Ribeiro was able to tame the Bombay mafia. In fact, the mafia members, most of whom came from impoverished backgrounds, ran amuck in the streets of Bombay, with Dawood leading the pack. Between 1982 and 1985, the mafia became bolder and more violent.

  The gruesome killing of Sabir was regarded as the turning point for the Bombay mafia. It was after his murder that the mafia began violating all kinds of codes as they crossed personal boundaries and became bloodthirsty. After Sabir’s death, the Dawood–Sabir gang decided to coronate Dawood as the chieftain, and the gang was rechristened the ‘D-Gang’.

  For the two years that Amirzada was safely cocooned inside the precincts of Arthur Road Jail, Dawood used the time constructively to build his gang with the help of Khalid. With Sabir gone, Khalid became indispensable to Dawood. They roped in more Hindus across the city, making the gang more socially inclusive.

  Finally, Dawood decided that he would not wait forever for Amirzada’s judicial trial. Instead, he would become the judge and executioner in the case. He hatched a daring plan to bump off Amirzada within the premises of the court when he came in for his next hearing before the judge. This was one of the most audacious underworld killings in Bombay. Dawood hired one of the local riff-raffs, David Pardesi, and gave him the contract to shoot Amirzada dead in the sessions court, when he was in the dock.

  Pardesi’s arrest in the courtroom shootout of Amirzada led to Dawood’s arrest from Baroda (now known as Vadodara). Dawood had gone to Porbandar to receive a smuggling consignment when he was arrested by the Baroda Police. Dawood was lodged at Sabarmati Central Jail, where, it is said, he lived a lavish life by throwing money at the conniving officials.

  The Gujarat Police had managed to slap several smuggling cases on him in various cities so as to ensure that he would not be able to get bail easily in an isolated case. They didn’t want him to get away from their clutches. These cases, registered at police stations in Surat, Porbandar and Baroda, made him hop from one lock-up to another and often travel long distances by road to appear in various trial courts.

  But Dawood, who was born under the zodiac sign of Capricorn, was a determined goat. He never lost sight of his goal and always turned adversity into prosperity. When he realized that the Gujarat Police were dead set on making his life miserable, he turned to make friends with them, so much so that the cops begun to trust him and felt reassured that the man would not conspire to escape from custody.

  Actually, Dawood had a very good reason to befriend the Gujarat Police. Though he had managed to kill Amirzada, his other arch-enemy Alamzeb had joined forces with the Gujarat don, Abdul Latif Khan, who at the time was a very powerful bootlegger in the state.

  Latif had got David Pardesi shot through his shooter Sharif Khan and was now baying for Dawood’s blood. At the Sabarmati jail, Dawood had been alerted about Latif’s plans. He knew he was easy prey once he stepped out of jail and was being escorted to other towns in Gujarat.

  Initially, whenever Dawood was escorted to the court and back to jail, he was given a police van as protection. But with the passage of time, Dawood noticed that the extra security cover had disappeared. He suspected that the police were making him vulnerable, fair game for his rivals. This changed equation meant that instead of Dawood avenging his brother Sabir, the vengeance would belong to Alamzeb. Dawood felt vulnerable and more and more like a sitting duck in Gujarat. He did have reason to worry as he was away from his home turf and did not have his human shield, Khalid, by his side to avert any attack on his life.

  But the mentor had left an indelible impression in his mind. Dawood had managed to imbibe Khalid’s teachings very well. Khalid had taught him the felicity to survive against the heaviest odds: ‘Survival is a matter of chutes and ladders. At times life can slide you to the lowest level and dump you in the deepest ebb; however, only a real warrior can turn around this slip to board the escalator to success. And to achieve that aim, he should be always willing to face any eventuality. So much so that if you don’t have a screwdriver, then learn to use a hammer to unscrew.’ Khalid’s lessons never went waste with Dawood.

  The proficiency of any pupil depends on how well he can acquire the lessons from his teacher and then add his own two bits to the teaching. Dawood while learning all these aphorisms and strategic lessons also kept improving on them in his own shrewd way.

  Khalid had always believed in his own physical prowess, smart thinking and survival skills to emerge out of a tricky situation. He had drilled this mantra into Dawood: ‘Nobody but you alone can help yourself in a crisis. You need to have your wits around you and you need loads of courage.’

  What Dawood lacked in physical strength, like his teacher, he more than made up for with his unconventional smart thinking and astute moves, which not only helped him survive against all odds but also emerge much stronger, even later in life.

  While Khalid never had strong equations with police officers, as the Bom
bay cops remained parochial in their approach and treated him as an outsider, Dawood, who knew Marathi and hailed from a police background, instantly made friends with the police. He did not hesitate to grease their palms when smooth talking failed. His presence was also very disarming and people didn’t realize the powerhouse hidden inside him. He seemed like just another common man who was trying to be affable in the worst of circumstances.

  For those policemen who were willing to be on his payroll, Dawood paid them generously to buy their loyalty, while with those who refused to accept money, Dawood assured them ‘inside intelligence’, which in police terminology means ‘andar ki khabar’. This was the reason that Dawood had very few enemies among the police force, not just in Bombay but even outside the city. While in Gujarat, Dawood nurtured close friendships with them and the cops were always willing to eat out of his hands.

  The only vulnerable stretch for Dawood was his trip from Sabarmati Central Jail to the Baroda court and back, which was over 120 km, each side. Dawood realized that he would be totally on his own and needed every trick up his sleeve to survive if he were attacked by his enemies. Sub-inspector Bishnoi, who was only armed with a standard service revolver, was responsible for Dawood’s security.

  Dawood remained anxious about his safety on the entire drive from Sabarmati to Baroda. But his court appearance was uneventful and they did not face any untoward incident throughout the journey. On their way back, Dawood felt euphoric and even checked into a hotel off Narol highway in Ahmedabad.

  Two Dawood aides by the names of Raees and Abdullah were also taken to court for a hearing on the same day. Earlier, Dawood and Sub-inspector Bishnoi were seated on the rear seat, while Raees and Abdullah were in the front seat, one of them driving the Fiat car. But after a break and relaxation at a dhaba in Narol, Dawood decided to switch the seating arrangement.

  Dawood asked Raees and Abdullah to shift behind, while he, along with Bishnoi, sat in the front. Dawood then decided to take the wheel and asked Bishnoi, who reluctantly agreed after initially protesting, to sit on the passenger seat. But when Dawood asked Bishnoi to give him his service revolver, the cop put his foot down and refused.

  ‘We are only a few miles from the jail. I am not foolhardy to use the gun against you. If I wanted to escape, I wouldn’t have waited until we entered the city limits,’ Dawood explained to him. He told Bishnoi that he wanted to keep the gun with him because the assailants would anyway not shoot at Bishnoi because of his uniform but would target Dawood instead.

  Sometimes one’s worst fears come true. Barely had their car covered a couple of miles towards the Jamalpur Junction (predominantly a Muslim locality and currently still a Muslim ghetto) that Dawood faced his moment of truth.

  Jamalpur was known to be Latif’s stronghold, and his men, who had been discreetly trailing Dawood since the time he had left Baroda, had planned to corner him in the area. The Jamalpur roads were narrow, the traffic was chaotic and vehicular movement was so haywire that motorists had to literally gnash their teeth to traverse the area.

  Alamzeb, his crony Iqbal Bhupat, the big boss, Latif, and his main shooter, Liyaqat Master, who had been trailing Dawood, decided to make their move in this mess of a traffic jam. Liyaqat jumped out of the car, expecting Dawood to be in the rear seat, and came close enough to opening fire at the passengers. Dawood had sensed the car and his pursuers coming closer. He decided to think like Khalid and move the way his teacher would. While Dawood’s pursuers expected him to be totally off guard, Dawood had already begun planning his counteroffensive.

  Dawood asked Bishnoi to step out of the car and raise an alarm so that the traffic police or any uniformed men around would get drawn towards his cries for help. As instructed, Bishnoi began bellowing and drawing the attention of the uniformed men around. Liyaqat was startled for a moment. But he decided to get closer and shoot at Dawood and then return quickly before anyone could help him.

  But Dawood, who had also sneaked out of the car from Bishnoi’s side, took cover and trained the gun at Liyaqat Master. Master was mystified when he did not spot Dawood in the car. In his hurry he opened fire at them as a reflex action. Dawood took advantage of this and fired at Liyaqat Master, who lost his balance and fell down. Dawood and Bishnoi both ran towards him. Just a few feet away were two police officers in a cruiser van. The firing and shouts drew their attention and they dashed towards Bishnoi and his friend who was firing. Dawood might have killed Latif’s gunman or at least injured him. But Liyaqat realized that the tables had turned against them and he got up and ran towards Latif’s car. The hunter had become the hunted. Latif and Alamzeb too did not expect this situation, of Dawood managing to upstage them despite being alone.

  The shots and the sight of the two men firing at each other and hurling a volley of bullets at each other had scared other motorists who barely managed to scramble away from these feuding men. Latif found an opening and managed to flee from the spot along with his cronies.

  Dawood and Sub-inspector Bishnoi were relieved and happy to remain unhurt in the attack, though Raees and Abdullah had both suffered injuries from Liyaqat’s shots.

  Dawood had managed to reach the Sabarmati Central Jail precincts safely. Weeks passed and he became increasingly aware that he had to settle scores with Alamzeb soon. The solitude of jail egged him on further to figure out his vendetta. He then formulated a plan to kill Alamzeb. He used his connections and ensured that Alamzeb was killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

  The well-planned police encounter of Alamzeb had turned out to be extremely controversial and many questions were raised in its regard. In fact, it had led to a riot-like situation in Ahmedabad, wherein Latif’s supporters had forced a bandh in the city in many places. An example of Latif’s clout can be seen from the fact that when he was thrown in to jail during the Ahmedabad municipal elections, Latif decided to file his nomination papers from five wards. He managed to win in all five wards despite being in jail.

  Dawood was impressed with Latif’s hold over Gujarat and realized that even if the latter was Alamzeb’s ally, he could still be a useful partner for Dawood in his future ventures. Dawood cleverly avoided locking horns with Latif and kept his enmity limited to the Bombay Pathans.

  The stint in jail and being on his own in Gujarat was a learning curve for Dawood. He used his incarceration to good effect. He learned to work around a problem. Alamzeb was killed at the hands of the police even as he was sitting inside a jail cell. Dawood could go to any lengths to avenge his flesh and blood.

  Subsequently, after his release from jail and upon being back in Mumbai, Dawood eliminated Samad Khan, which was in retaliation to Samad’s assault on his brother Noora. He led a hit squad to kill him in Sikka Nagar on Grant Road. Dawood was relentless in pursuing his enemies and was equally passionate about making pots of money. Sabir’s death had cast him among the wolves and he was determined to survive. He realized that money opened many doors, and he wanted to amass as much money as possible. He had also decided to exclude his other brothers from the mafia world. Anis Ibrahim was Dawood’s younger brother, who was fascinated with the underworld and wanted to assist Dawood after Sabir’s death. But Dawood disapproved and also forced him to migrate to Dubai. It is a different story that Anis was unable to keep away from the D-Gang and became integral to it in the subsequent decades.

  Dawood strictly asked Iqbal Kaskar and Nurul Haq, alias Noora, to distance themselves from the underworld. Iqbal was not interested in the violent side of the underworld, while Noora, like Sabir, was a romantic at heart. According to some unconfirmed stories, Noora had composed songs for a few movies under a pseudonym. Dawood’s other two brothers Humayun and Mustaqeem were teenagers who were able to focus on their education than on gang activities.

  After Sabir’s murder, Dawood also realized that none of the money in the world would be enough if he had no access to power. In Gujarat, inside the jail, he had learnt that having access to the corridors of power and policemen opened do
ors everywhere. If he had to reach the pinnacle, he needed a network of useful contacts. While Dawood’s predecessors focused more on seeking acceptability by getting photographed with reigning film stars, Dawood was keen on aligning himself with powerful politicians both in Maharashtra and in Delhi. Eventually, he partnered with both politicians and businessmen in big-ticket projects all over India.

  With his family secured and political connections in place, Dawood began to concentrate on his business and gang activities. He then fortified his den at Musafir Khana and gave carte blanche to Khalid to expand their smuggling operations.

  21

  Musa Ka Ghoosa

  The Mumbai underworld has drawn and derived most of its proverbs and idioms from the stories narrated in Muslim religious texts, but these are usually discussed in a different context altogether. Incidentally, these proverbs or figurative expressions were used as allegorical references. For instance, the proverb ‘Sulemani keeda’ is an idiom often used to convey that the man is crooked and evil because he has been infected by the gigantic bug of villainy. Now, just a mention of keeda, or bug, will not convey the meaning with any impact. Prophet Suleman, or King Solomon in the Old Testament, was known to have ruled the mightiest, grandest and most powerful kingdom in the world at the time. So, if one wants to convey the enormity of the bug that has bitten a man, the mention of Suleman is made in the expression.

  Similarly, another very popular expression, which has its roots in Islamic history, is ‘Musa ka ghoosa’, meaning ‘the decisively powerful punch of Moses’. The story goes that Prophet Musa was passing through a bazaar, when he saw his tribesmen and an Israeli locked in a dispute with a native Copt (Egyptian in the Hellenistic and Roman periods) and was asked to intervene. Musa reluctantly got involved and tried to resolve the matter between the men. However, neither of them was willing to back down. In the heat of the moment, the Copt said something untoward and pounced on Musa for his supposed interference and partiality towards his tribesmen.