Mafia Queens of Mumbai

by S. Hussain Zaidi

  A city tabloid had first exposed her as ‘Chhota Shakeel ki moti girlfriend’ (Chhota Shakeel’s fat girlfriend). It is this relationship with the underworld don that had pulled her from the comforts of her beauty parlour in south Mumbai into the Byculla Women’s Jail. This is the story of Rubina Siraj Sayyed, a renowned beautician, who went on to become a renowned underworld aide.

  First picked up by the Mumbai police in 2004, Rubina was convicted exactly two years later under the MCOCA for conspiracy charges. Her story is one of an ambitious woman who wanted to propel herself into the world of politics via the launch pad of the underworld.

  A couple of years before her arrest, Rubina worked as a beautician in south Mumbai’s Dongri area. Much in demand, she was called for several social events and weddings for her expensive beauty treatments. Although her annual income was high, far more than that of her civil contractor husband Siraj Sayyed, Rubina was not satisfied. She had bigger dreams. This mother of two wanted to join politics and become a municipal corporator. It was this drive that later drew her to the underworld.

  It all began in 2002 when Rubina’s brother-in-law Obaid Sayyed, a Shakeel aide, was arrested in a murder case and lodged in the Arthur Road Jail. During her occasional visits to the court and jail, Rubina was asked by Obaid to convey messages to Shakeel for him. She agreed. A smooth talker with a flirtatious voice, Rubina managed to flatter fugitive gangster Shakeel.

  An impressed Shakeel then asked her to join the gang an offer which was simply too lucrative for her to refuse. She assumed that her role in the underworld would boost her chances of contesting the municipal elections and becoming a municipal corporator. Hence, she started working for the gang almost immediately and carried out all the tasks she was given. She took instructions from Shakeel aide Fahim Mach-Mach, coordinated with lawyers, handled the financial affairs of all the gang members between south Mumbai and Jogeshwari, and looked after all the needs of Shakeel’s gangsters in jail. In only a few months, Rubina’s lifestyle changed tremendously. Now more affluent than she had ever been, she moved from riding a two-wheeler to driving a car; and from being a beautician, she was now the notorious, powerful ‘heroine’ of an underworld gang.

  Rubina was fluent in English and tech-savvy as well, which is why she managed to evade the police’s electronic surveillance time and again. The Crime Branch only discovered her activities a year later, after one of Shakeel’s men, Uday Pawar alias Pankaj, got in touch with her.

  For a couple of a years, Pankaj had been demanding Rs 50 lakh from a film distributor and issuing threats to him. When the distributor agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh, Pankaj called Rubina to report this to her. The police happened to be listening in on this conversation. They soon began tracking Rubina’s movements and calls, and in the process, recorded twenty-six conversations made to Fahim Mach-Mach and Shakeel. After watching her movements closely for over four months, the Crime Branch finally arrested her in 2004.

  According to the police, at the last count, she was looking after twenty-five families of men affiliated to the Shakeel gang and would distribute Rs 1.5 lakh among them every month, apart from making payments for legal expenses. The special MCOCA court convicted her for charges under MCOCA and 120 (b) (Conspiracy) of the IPC and sentenced her to five years of rigorous imprisonment on 23 March 2006. Her case was fought by advocate Shahid Azmi, who years later, in February 2010, fell victim to a former shooter of the Chhota Rajan gang.

  Rubina’s conceit and arrogance only seemed to increase during her years in jail. The jail authorities were regularly inundated with complaints from prison inmates against Rubina for assaulting them. Among the most prominent of these cases was when Rubina, along with her cellmate and Gateway blast-accused Fahmida Sayyed, had attacked a diminutive Zahira Sheikh, who was serving out her perjury sentence in the Gujarat Best Bakery case. Following this, jail authorities punished Rubina by barring her from buying jail canteen coupons, which otherwise provided inmates access to luxury goods, such as soaps, biscuits, toothpaste and dry fruit.

  Today, after completing her five-year term in jail, Rubina is a free woman, but her time behind bars has sent her back to square one. Rubina, who lost her husband Siraj recently, is back to riding a two-wheeler and has nothing that she can consider to be a source of livelihood. While her parlour business shut down years ago, her political dreams, too, have not been realised. The once well-known beautician and Shakeel aide is far from being the underworld’s favourite Pathani heroine anymore, she’d be hard-pressed to even be deemed an extra.

  INTRODUCTION

  I

  t is not only Bollywood actresses and supermodels who rake in millions of rupees with their ravishing looks. Sometimes, they are also Ram Leela artistes and bar dancers, whose looks and powers of manipulation are worthy allies in helping them make their fortunes. These women don’t enjoy the privilege of being the wives of dons; neither do they take pride in being arm candy for their bosses in the underworld. But with the innate gift to turn a hundred heads, these seductive women have trapped several men in their nets as they lied, cheated, deceived, conned and masterminded sensational crimes. While there are many who fit the bill, we narrowed it down to two exceptionally notorious women who used their personality and charismatic looks as weapons for crime.

  ‘Crorepati bar girl’ Tarannum Khan was arguably one of the richest and most controversial faces of Mumbai’s nightlife. Tarannum was in the news for weeks due to her alleged involvement in an international cricket betting racket. The stunning bar dancer made crores by betting on the sport; apparently it was at her house that the ill-gotten money of an international cricketer was stashed. The scandal brought to light the sharp brain behind an otherwise innocent face. While Tarannum is not part of the hardcore mafia, her role in the global betting syndicate makes her story a sensational one.

  The second woman, Archana Sharma, was willing to go to any extent to make a quick buck. Labelled by a prominent tabloid as the lady don with killer looks’, Archana used her sex appeal to entrap businessmen, politicians and hoteliers. She had no qualms about simultaneously bed-hopping with politicos and gangsters to win favours and realise her dreams. Slapped with several cases of kidnappings, murders and extortion, this small-town girl from Ujjain epitomises daredevilry and fearlessness.

  TARANNUM KHAN

  At a time when most of Mumbai goes to sleep, the dance bars wake up. At two in the morning, one such suburban Mumbai bar is bursting with the energy of blaring music, debauched men, vivacious girls and free-flowing alcohol. The air is pregnant with the lust for sex and money. The place is crammed beyond capacity but the mirrored walls create the illusion of space.

  Men throng here in large numbers to enjoy a break from their monotonous existences for a few hours of fantasy. They drink away their worries and smoke like chimneys.

  However, even in their semi-conscious alcoholic daze, their bodies warm to the presence of a few girls on the dance floor in the centre. The girls are dressed skimpily in shimmering lehenga cholis and are gyrating to loud Bollywood music that jars as it emanates from the speakers. Heavily made-up, these girls share a faint resemblance to big-screen starlets. All eyes are on them as they dance like slaves for their patrons. These patrons aren’t ordinary, though; among them, you will find money-laden businessmen, diamond merchants, gangsters, industrialists and celebrities who are willing to spend their fortunes in return for a few moments of visual gratification.

  Some of the dancers have already chosen their prey from among these filthy-rich admirers and make eye-contact and gestures in their direction while sashaying across the dance floor. Their movements become bolder with every song. In return, their admirers approach them with garlands of 100-rupee notes. The girls lean forward but remain within the confines of the floor. As they are garlanded, their soft silky hair brushes the skin of their patrons, who then express their approval by showering them with money. But while a few have already chosen the woman of their fantasies, others are still grudgi
ngly holding onto their bundles of notes. In Mumbai lingo, the ‘big maal’ is yet to come.

  Half-an-hour later, the music suddenly veers to the popular Bollywood track—Kajra Re. The lights grow dimmer and all of a sudden a girl, draped in a glittering translucent pink sari with a cleavage-revealing blouse, cavorts onto the floor. Just like the Pied Piper, she manages to draw the attention of each and every one towards her. The other girls suddenly seem like extras in comparison.

  There is a roar in the crowd when she raises her arms and moves her hips first to the right, then the left, before she begins to dance. When the beat of the song quickens, she has her admirers in a trance. She rotates her shoulders in a small circular motion and waves her hands, while heaving her breasts forwards. She also lip-syncs the words of the song with suggestive expressions and spares no one with her lascivious winks. There is nothing extraordinary about her. She has long black hair, pale wheatish skin and is only as pretty as the other girls, yet no one can take their eyes off her. In no time, 500 and 1,000-rupee notes begin to fly like a deck of cards in her direction. The other bar girls continue swaying on the sidelines, envious of her for grabbing all the attention. Like her melodic name, she has captivated everyone with her tune.

  Tarannum Khan was the pin-up girl of suburban Mumbai’s Deepa Bar and Restaurant. At the age of twenty-four, Tarannum was no less popular than any Bollywood starlet. A high-profile bar girl, she allegedly made over Rs 1.5 to Rs 3 lakh every day, and attracted a clientele that comprised the affluent and the famous. She was the crown of Mumbai’s nightlife until she was arrested for her links to an international cricket betting racket.

  An Income Tax department raid in 2005 at her bungalow—Tanishq—in suburban Mumbai, unearthed pieces of a puzzle that could not only land her in trouble, but also jeopardise the careers of some of the world’s most celebrated sportsmen. Her miseries began to unfold like a nightmare as she made the headlines almost every day.

  However, the tale of one of Mumbai’s most controversial bar girls actually had its beginnings in the struggles and hardships she underwent as a teenager. Although she had a diploma in computer education, Tarannum’s ambitions lay elsewhere—she wanted to become an air-hostess.

  However, times were rough for Tarannum’s family. Her parents had already endured grave financial loss when their home at Sion in central Mumbai was set on fire during the Hindu-Muslims riots of 1992-93. Further, Tarannum’s mother, who suffered from diabetes and a heart problem, needed immediate medical attention. And so at the young age of seventeen, Tarannum had to give up on her dreams and do menial jobs to meet the medical expenses of her ailing mother. Her efforts were either too litde or simply inadequate. This is when she took to dancing at bars.

  Tarannum’s popularity soared to such heights that within a year, she was called to Dubai to perform for a few clients. She was unremittingly showered with money and gifts. It wasn’t long before she could buy herself a plot from the MHADA—a state body that provides affordable housing—in the posh locality of Versova in Mumbai, where she later built a bungalow.

  Tarannum flourished as a bar dancer. She captivated and wooed rich businessmen and film stars alike, and saw no reason to look for greener pastures—until 2005. Ironically, this was the same year that marked the deathknell for all dance bars in Mumbai. The then home minister of Maharashtra R.R. Patil called for a ban on dance bars across the state. Citing it as detrimental to society, the minister set an early deadline of August 15 for dance bar owners to shut shop. Even before Mr Patil could seal the fate of the bars, several dancers began looking for alternative sources of livelihood. While most looked for lucrative options in the neighbouring states of Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, others turned to prostitution.

  However, Deepa Bar’s Tarannum, who had been entertaining clients for over seven years and was used to making big money, saw the potential in cricket betting. Her clientele had included some avid cricket bookies and with their help, she started taking serious bets on the game and her earnings tripled in no time.

  On 29 August 2005, Income Tax officials raided Tarannum’s bungalow when they learnt that she had failed to file her I-T returns for over four years. Incidentally, the MHADA had also been planning to issue a notice against her for not complying with property tax rules. During the raid, I-T officials seized over Rs 22 lakh in cash, and gold jewellery worth Rs 8 lakh from her bungalow that was now worth Rs 1.25 crore. In her defence, Tarannum claimed that she had not filed her I-T returns because her chartered accountant had misguided her.

  Her troubles were not to end here. Further investigations by I-T officials shockingly revealed the phone numbers of some notorious cricket bookies and an international Sri Lankan cricketer on her cell phone. The case was immediately handed over to the Mumbai police to probe if Tarannum was in any way associated with a betting racket.

  Several names emerged during the investigations, including bookie-turned producer Jagdish Sodha, bookies Shobhan mehta, Pradip Kumar and Milind Dhiraj Nandu, alias DJ. The police had also found enough evidence to show that she had placed bets for an Australia-England match on 20 August 2005, for which she was to receive anywhere between Rs 20 to 30 lakh.

  However, the case took a sensational turn when the names of Bollywood actor Aditya Panscholi and Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan surfaced during the investigations. There were reports that the actor had taken Muttiah, who was in Mumbai for a cricket match, to the bar and introduced him to Tarannum. There were rumours that Tarannum apparently stashed the spinner’s illegal money, earned through betting, in her home. While both Aditya and Muttiah did not deny having visited the bar, they vehemently refuted the charges of being associated with Tarannum or of being involved in match-fixing. The police eventually cleared their names. Meanwhile, contradictory stories about Tarannum’s notorious past, which included her alleged links with the underworld and her involvement in the flesh trade, also came to the fore.

  In an interview, Tarannum, who until then was elusive and unapproachable to the media, denied any involvement with cricketers. Excerpts from the interview:*

  While Tarannum was entirely unapologetic about her involvement in cricket betting, she openly denied that she knew any cricketers. ‘I bet, but don’t know cricketers,’ she said.

  With a straight face, she said that her involvement in cricket betting went back ‘only six months’ and claimed that the Rs 22 lakh seized by the I-T department from her Versova bungalow was her own and not that of any cricketer’s. She also admitted to knowing bookie-turned film producer Jagdish Sodha, who along with another bookie Shobhan Mehta, allegedly passed on the cricketer’s money to her. Sodha has also been accused by the Mumbai police of paying Rs 8 lakh to the cricketer in September 2004 to fix matches in the ICC Knockout tournament, which was played in England.

  ‘I know Sodha very well, though I don’t know Shobhan Mehta. I started betting on cricket six months ago and have wagered with just one bookie, called DJ. I have been betting anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000,’ she said in fluent English.

  She noted that she had always harboured the impression that punters did not commit any crime by betting on the game. ‘It is only the bookies who violate the law,’ she said.

  The dancer claimed the bungalow on SVP Road, Versova, where she lived, was bought with her ‘hard-earned’ money. ‘I bought the bungalow for Rs 27 lakh from the MHADA five years ago, when the land here was marshy and deserted. You can check the MHADA records. Why would bookies and cricketers gift this to me? The cash, too, is my money, which I saved over a period of seven to eight years. It does not belong to any bookie or some ugly-looking cricketer,’ she said, brashly.

  When asked how she could accumulate so much money if she worked as a bar girl, she said, ‘I had an affluent clientele. All my patrons worked with multinationals. Any bar girl can do thumkas, but regular visitors knew me for my original dances and rewarded me for my talent, not for my looks.’

  She also denied links with
the underworld. ‘The Crime Branch is well aware that I don’t know anyone in the underworld.’ She also asserted that she never indulged in prostitution. ‘Prostitution is a matter of choice; a girl can say no. Only girls in those bars which are downmarket and have patrons like truck drivers may have to resort to prostitution. Upmarket bars don’t get involved in such practices,’ she said. She expressed the hope that dance bars would reopen so she could get back to her work. What if they don’t? ‘If I had this money which has been seized, I would have started some business,’ she said.

  Tarannum subsequently gave television interviews but chose to appear veiled in her burqa. The grapevine was full of rumours about what the real Tarannum looked like. Some local newspapers published photographs of a woman claiming that she was the real bar girl. hater, Telugu film starlet Tamanna Bhatia filed a complaint against several newspapers and demanded action against them for carrying her photo and labelling it as Tarannum’s.

  Finally, on 15 September 2005, the police, under intense pressure from the state government and the media, arrested Tarannum, along with two other bookies, under the charges of criminal conspiracy and gambling. For the first time, the police invoked provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act in a gambling case and slapped charges of misuse of IT against the trio. Tarannum had to spend the next two months at the Byculla Women’s Jail before she was granted bail by a sessions court in November 2005.

  After receiving bail, a disturbed Tarannum complained about how she was being treated. ‘Now, people point at my home and say, "Look, this is the house where the bar girl stays”. Now all of India knows about me. I want an answer from the government: what will happen if all the allegations levelled against me are false? Who will be responsible for it?’ she had said in an interview.