Black Friday

by S. Hussain Zaidi

  After a brief discussion on what was happening in Bombay, Tiger’s associates decided to part. Yaqub gave Rs 10,000 to Badshah and offered him and Bashir a lift to Jaipur in his Tata mobile van. They accepted.

  Badshah Khan was disappointed in Jaipur. He had heard that it was the pink city, but it was far from rosy. Yaqub took Badshah and Bashir to meet Anwar Theba and Shafi, who had come straight to Jaipur from Bombay. They too had been promised a new life in Dubai by Tiger, and they were excited at the prospect. Badshah thought that he would be better off there than anywhere in India. That made him think of his passport, which had not been returned after their trip to Islamabad. He asked Anwar if he knew where it was.

  Anwar guffawed at the question. ‘It has been destroyed.’

  Badshah was outraged. How could they destroy such a vital document without even asking him? ‘It was my passport! Who were you to destroy it?’

  ‘Not just your passport, we destroyed everybody’s. Tiger insisted. He made some other arrangements,’ Anwar changed his tone to placate Badshah.

  Badshah was still seething, but he knew that Anwar must be speaking the truth as he had invoked Tiger’s name. Anwar asked him to get moving as there were too many of them in Jaipur, but to stay in touch with Tiger about crossing the border.

  After a few days, Badshah and Bashir left for Rampur again. Badshah felt more comfortable there. They tried to contact Tiger for further instructions, but did not manage to get through for more than a week. They moved constantly. They visited Kanpur and Gorakhpur. They were thoroughly confused and directionless, the lack of leadership and support beginning to take its toll. Badshah thought about surrendering to the police. Bashir fiercely opposed it. Their frequent arguments strained their friendship, and they grew bitter and sarcastic with each other. Finally, they decided to part ways. Badshah returned to Rampur while Bashir stayed on in Gorakhpur.

  Back in Rampur, Badshah called Tiger again. This time he got through, but only to receive a message that Tiger should not be contacted at that number any more but on a mobile. Badshah, slightly taken aback, called the new number. As usual, Tiger was nice to him. Badshah asked for money. Tiger said money would be no problem but that he would have to come to Delhi to collect it. Badshah agreed and promised to call him once he reached Delhi.

  Nasir Dhakla had been nervous about the entire operation since Javed Chikna roped him into Tiger’s gang for the first landing. Unlike the other young men who had trained with him in Islamabad, Nasir never experienced their excitement and enthusiasm. He was a family man, with a secure matka business, and he did not want to get into the risky business of revenge. However, Tiger had stated before the first landing that there was no way to drop out of the operation, and so Nasir had stayed on. Though he had participated in many meetings and recces, he had stayed away from the final meetings on 10 March.

  While Chikna and the others drove in and out of Al-Hussaini with their loaded vehicles on 12 March, Nasir and Parvez Kelawala had hidden in an empty classroom of a nearby Marathi school from where they could get a clear view of the Al-Hussaini compound. They had watched the activity all day and finally, when towards late afternoon it petered out, they had gone home.

  Late in the evening his wife Rehana woke him from his nap. She said that the entire city was in chaos, bombs were going off everywhere. Nasir was relieved he had not been involved, but he continued feeling very uneasy. He lay low for a day, but on 14 March he heard that Tiger’s flats had been raided. Fearing that the noose would tighten around anyone known to have any association with Tiger, he contacted Parvez, and they decided to leave the city together.

  On 15 March, they left for Ahmedabad by train and arrived the following morning. Ahmedabad was like Bombay in several respects, and they felt somewhat secure in the many Muslim pockets and shrines scattered throughout the city. As they had not attended the last meeting with Tiger, they had received only Rs 5,000 each, and they felt the absence of cash as they looked around for a place to stay. They sought shelter in the shrine of Hazrat Shah Alam. However, it was crowded to capacity, so after a couple of days they left for Ajmer.

  The dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chhisti or Gharib Nawaz, perhaps the most important Sufi saint in the country, is in Ajmer. The shrine, one of the most sacred spots in the country for a Muslim, was the reason they had selected Ajmer as their destination. However, on reaching there, they realized that they could not stay at the dargah because it was too crowded. They were forced to rent a room in Hayat Manzil, just opposite the dargah. They gave false names and addresses. When they ran out of money after a few days, Parvez went to his native village in UP and Nasir returned to Bombay.

  Nasir found his house in Bharat Nagar padlocked. He went to his in-laws’ home, where he found his wife and children. His father-in-law, Ghulam Dastagir, told him the police were looking for him. Nasir decided to leave again. He went to Dongri and met Karimullah, one of Tiger’s associates who had participated in the landings. Karimullah gave him Rs 700 and told him to leave the city immediately. Alone and frightened, Nasir resolved to flee once more.

  As panic spread through the underworld with the arrest of some of Tiger’s aides—Asgar Mukadam, Abdul Gani and Imtiyaz Ghavate—Yeba Yaqub, who had returned to Bombay from Tonk, was increasingly stressed. He was still sitting on unused stocks of RDX and gelatin. Only a fraction of the quantities landed had been used. Yaqub knew that if any of the boys squealed to the police, he’d be doomed for life.

  Yeba Yaqub

  When Tiger had begun assembling his group, Yaqub, swept by a wave of enthusiasm, had pledged his support, though he had not known precisely how he could help. However, in his careful planning, Tiger had taken into account Yaqub’s strengths and assets. His brother, Majid Khan, was a builder, and owned a successful construction company, MK Builders. Yaqub himself had several warehouses and godowns in and around Bombay where Tiger could safely store his RDX. Tiger had chosen the warehouses in New Bombay and Thane.

  More than eight tons of RDX had been landed at Shekhadi and Dighi on 3 and 7 February, about three-quarters of it on the latter day. Tiger had divided the RDX into two, and entrusted Chikna and Yeba Yaqub with half the total quantity each. Yaqub had stashed his share in about a hundred jute bags, each containing about forty kilograms of RDX, in his brother’s godown at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) sheds in New Bombay.

  Yaqub had been satisfied that he had made his contribution to the holy war. But with all those inconvenient arrests and tales of Maria’s ruthlessness, he was losing peace of mind. He resolved to shift the RDX from his brother’s godown to another location. At least, in case the RDX was discovered, his brother would not be involved. The only difficulty was finding a place large enough for all those bags, which was also close enough to the present storage so that they would not attract attention during transportation. He decided to store the RDX in Mumbra and Kashimira, close to New Bombay, in warehouses belonging to his builder-friends Shahid Gehlot and Mohammed Jindran.

  Despite its proximity to Bombay, real-estate prices were very low in the predominantly Muslim township of Mumbra. Shahid and Amin Gehlot were small-time builders who worked in the township and had constructed several buildings there, including one called Mobin Nagar in Kausa village at Mumbra.

  On 17 March, Yaqub drove to Mumbra to meet them at their offices. He asked them for an empty ground-floor room to store some important goods. He did not disclose the nature of the goods. The Gehlots knew Yaqub well, and they had no reason to turn him down, especially as they weren’t using the space at that time. They also knew he would return the favour some day. They agreed, but said that they had only one room free. This room, in the Mobin Nagar building, measured barely 500 square feet.

  Yaqub summoned masons and bricked up the only window in the room, so that no one could accidentally look in. That evening, he hired a tempo and three labourers to move thirty-two bags of RDX to the new location. There were also ten bags of gelatine stored the
re. Yaqub had also bought about fifty jute bags of dried Bombay duck, which he stacked on top of the RDX. The rest he would store in Jindran’s shed in Kashimira early the following day. By this time Mukadam and others had mentioned his name to the police, and he knew it was time for him to go underground.

  Kashimira is one of the most picturesque areas of Thane, with lush greenery, rolling hills, clean air and wide creeks. It is a favourite weekend spot for Bombay’s wealthy, many of whom have farmhouses and cottages in the area. There are also many small workshops, factories and warehouses there.

  Builder Noor Mohammed Khan and his partner Jindran owned the 2,000-square-foot Godown 150, near Nagla Bunder creek, in Kashimira, which they used to store their materials. Khan’s business had been struggling until he had joined hands with Jindran, whose shrewd business tactics had made both of them prosperous. Although Khan did not approve of Jindran’s unethical activities, which often bordered on the illegal, or some of his more shady buddies, like Yeba Yaqub, he held his peace.

  On the afternoon of 19 March, as Khan walked into the shed, he noticed that there were about seventy jute bags neatly piled up at one side. He asked the Gurkha watchman, Pratap Bahadur, ‘Yeh kya hai ?’

  ‘They are Jindran sahab’s,’ Bahadur replied.

  Khan was surprised. There wasn’t any construction work in progress that required more materials. Nor had Jindran mentioned that there was anything he was planning to store there. Khan cut open one of the bags and stuck his hand in. He found a black sticky substance that had no smell. He had no idea what the stuff was; it certainly wasn’t anything he recognized from construction. He thought, this must be something Jindran is planning to use to cut costs.

  Khan decided to find out what the substance was. He sent Bahadur to summon Abdul Rashid, who had a chemical-processing unit adjacent to his own warehouse.

  Rashid took some of the blackish substance and rubbed it on his hands, then on a stone, but failed to identify it. He took a chunk back to his lab and conducted various tests, but still found nothing conclusive. Finally, Rashid tried to burn it. The instant he put a match to it, the chunk flared up and emitted a lot of smoke and a strong odour.

  Rashid rushed to Khan’s shed. ‘Noor bhai, this chemical seems to be something suspicious. Where did you get it?’

  ‘Jindran has stored this here without telling me. What should I do?’

  ‘Noor bhai, let’s get rid of it. Let’s dump it in the nearest creek. But we have to do it very carefully. We have to keep the dresswalas from finding out.’

  ‘We can’t do it ourselves. This stuff weighs a ton. Who’s going to help us?’

  ‘I know a guy, Munna. He’s very daring. He’ll do this, but we’ll have to pay him.’

  ‘No problem. I’ll pay anything to get rid of this.’

  Rashid organized a meeting at his Marol residence with Noor Khan, Jindran and Munna. Jindran, duly rebuked by his partner, explained that he had stored it because he owed Yaqub a favour. He could not manage to locate Yaqub who had gone underground, otherwise he would have asked him to remove the sacks himself.

  Through sheer coincidence, Munna had already worked with Tiger and had helped in the landings. He saw this as an opportunity to make up for some of the money he could have earned had he participated in the bombings. Jindran and Khan were obviously desperate, so Munna demanded Rs 5 lakh. The deal was struck.

  Munna scouted the Nagla Bunder creek area for a deserted spot. He hired a dump truck and seven labourers. On the night of 23 March, they loaded up the truck and drove to the Kapur Bawdi area of Nagla Bunder. The work was done in less than three hours.

  8

  The Investigation Continues

  It was 23 March.

  Soon after the recovery of the scooters, Chougule decided to look into past recoveries of bombs or explosives in the city. He had tried to find out how many times terrorists had targeted the city, and was amazed to find that there were no consolidated records. So he had requested the office of each zonal DCP to pass on the information for their zone. Now piles of files, papers and registers littered his desk.

  Inspector Zarapkar, who shared the office with him, was busy disposing of the seized RDX and sending samples for analysis to the forensic laboratory at Kalina.

  The phone rang. Zarapkar picked it up. As he listened, his expression became grim. He said that the BDDS would be there immediately, and hung up. He said to Chougule, ‘Sir, control room said that some suspicious looking suitcases were found on a staircase of Imani Manzil at Zaveri Bazaar.’

  This time the BDDS team did not take the van or the equipment, only the invaluable Zanjeer. Zaveri Bazaar was right behind the BDDS office, and the quickest way to get there was on foot. When they reached the spot, the policemen from the LT Marg police station were already there, shepherding people away from Imani Manzil.

  Just inside the entrance, at the foot of the staircase, were two suitcases. Chougule signalled to the officers to evacuate the residents and shopkeepers from the area. Zanjeer, who seemed to be enjoying being in the limelight, was guided to the suitcases. He sniffed the suitcases once, then he walked around a bit as if making sure. He again went to them and sniffed, taking longer this time. Then he made a strange sound and barked briefly, as if he was only half certain.

  To Chougule and his men it seemed clear that the suitcases contained something in addition to explosives, otherwise Zanjeer wouldn’t have taken so long to decide. Pandhre tucked a hook in the handle of one of the suitcases and very carefully dragged it out into the open. This operation took more than twenty minutes. Once the first suitcase was out in the open, Kadam pulled out the second one with the equal caution. Once both were out, Pandhre and Kadam opened them.

  One contained five AK-56 rifles and the other contained four AK-56s and several magazines. Pandhre and Kadam examined the rifles and Chougule the magazines. They did not contain a single bullet. When Chougule went over to discuss the find with Inspector Shivaji Sawant of the LT Marg police station, Sawant told him that he had been informed that there was an unclaimed handcart with about ten similar suitcases near the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Ganesh Lane, a five-minute walk away.

  Chougule handed over the suitcases and AK-56s to Sawant for making a panchnama, and went off to Ganesh Lane.

  Near the Siddhi Vinayak temple, Chougule found the handcart. It was a strange sight: thirteen suitcases of different colours—grey, maroon, blue and green—piled on top of each other on a handcart parked in the middle of nowhere. They were too many to be a tourist’s, Chougule thought. Nor did the cart seem like something that would be used to transport suitcases from a warehouse to a showroom.

  Zanjeer sniffed at the handcart and barked instantly.

  The police evacuated everyone within fifty metres. Once again, with extreme care and caution, the officers offloaded the suitcases from the cart. Chougule, Zarapkar, Kadam and Pandhre opened them one by one.

  They were full of green hand grenades marked ‘Arges 69’. Each suitcase contained a minimum of fifteen to twenty grenades, about 200 in all. Chougule thought of the grenades they had found in the Maruti van at Worli on 12 March. They had the same markings. One case also contained three AK-56 rifles, some empty magazines and dozens of pencil timers. Another had five pistols of .9 mm calibre and five .308 cartridges. The weapons were handed over to the LT Marg policemen.

  Chougule lapsed into thought. Now that the police were turning on the heat, someone had decided to throw away the evidence before the cops landed at his doorstep.

  ■

  DCP (Zone VII) Arup Patnaik had always wanted to be a tough police officer. A short, stout, dour-faced man, Patnaik had been a bank officer. But it was only when he joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1979 that he was finally happy. He believed that the police should play a proactive role and tackle problems head-on.

  Patnaik’s first posting as DCP in Bombay was in March 1991. He decided it was essential for him to familiarize himself with the topography o
f the city to do his job well. His first tour was memorable. His guide was SI Prakash Mane. They set out from the police headquarters at Crawford Market.

  The first area they entered was the Muslim pocket in the Chakala area, Bhendi Bazaar and Mohammed Ali Road. Mane launhed into his description.

  ‘Sir, this is Mohammed Ali Road. It is connected to Dongri. This is the area of Dawood Ibrahim. Although he is in Dubai now, his word is law in this area and even beyond.’

  Patnaik looked at Mane in the front seat wide-eyed and nodded. Mane drove towards JJ Hospital crossroad, in the direction of the Byculla flyover. He continued, ‘Now here Dawood Ibrahim’s turf ends and Arun Gawli’s begins. Gawli used to be a mill worker. Today he is the only Hindu don who has stood up to the challenge of the Muslim Mafia.’

  Arup Patnaik (Courtesy Mid-day)

  They drove towards Byculla, over the bridge, and Mane spoke again.

  ‘Sir, here ends the territory of Arun Gawli. From here it is Amar Naik’s territory. Naik was a vegetable vendor at Dadar market but then he formed a gang of his own and became big.’ He continued on the subject of the activities of the different gangs, and the traditional rivalry between the Naik and Gawli gangs. By this time, they were past Dadar and were turning in towards Sena Bhavan.

  ‘Sir, this is the headquarters of the Shiv Sena party. The area till Shivaji Park is their stronghold. You know, sir, there is a weird analogy here. The way Gawli is the only gangster to have challenged the might of Dawood, Shiv Sena is the only party to take on the might of the Congress,’ Mane said, a tinge of admiration in his voice.

  Patnaik stayed quiet, though he was seething inside. The Ambassador was passing through Mahim. ‘Sir, this area belongs to smugglers. Some of the most notorious live here.’ He did not mention names.