Black Friday

by S. Hussain Zaidi

  For the film industry, it was a time of crisis, though this was not the first time that its members were at the centre of legal controversies. Bollywood had long been the target of law enforcement agencies. Early in the 1960s, Dilip Kumar’s house had been raided over and over again, and he had been accused of being a Pakistani spy. He was interrogated for days and threatened with arrest. All this happened based on the flimsy evidence provided by an youth who had been arrested and claimed that he was a spy for Pakistan and that Dilip Kumar was his associate. Finally, Dilip Kumar appealed to Prime Minister Nehru, and only then did the smear campaign come to a halt. This entire experience was unforgettably humiliating for the thespian whose belief in Indian secularism was shaken to the core. Also shattering was the fact that none of his colleagues from the film world had publicly stood behind him.

  Amitabh Bachchan was embroiled in controversy several times, especially during the Bofors scandal during 1985-86. It was his friendship with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that allowed him to remain unscathed for a while. But when V.P. Singh became the prime minister, Bachchan was hounded by virtually every government department from intelligence and revenue to excise and income tax. Amitabh waged a valiant battle against the agencies until he was proved innocent of the charges. During this entire episode, the film industry did not publicly rally to his support.

  But Sanjay Dutt’s case was different. Whereas both Amitabh and Dilip Kumar had been victims as individuals, in Sanjay’s case it seemed that the whole industry was under threat. Samir and Hanif were believed by many to have underworld connections, and Sanjay’s association with them was in itself damning. Also, professionally, many film stars and producers had met underworld leaders. Now it seemed that the noose was tightening around everyone. The list of names of people who were somehow connected to Dawood Ibrahim seemed to be growing daily.

  Though Dawood Ibrahim and the underworld’s links with Bollywood were always talked about, this time the police seemed determined to follow up the rumours and investigate the nature of the connection. People within the police department allegedly leaked names of renowned producers and film personalities to the media, saying that they were close to Dawood. The list compiled by the crime branch allegedly had some eighty names.

  Part of the reason why such links existed was that film-making involved large sums of money. Frequently the only way to get loans was from the underworld, as banks and other legitimate loan-giving institutions were often reluctant to finance films. It provided the dons with a means of laundering black money, so they too were willing. They also demanded certain other benefits, such as shows with film stars staged specifically for their entertainment. There were also whispers of sexual exploitation. Anis Ibrahim’s name was often mentioned in this context. Another Ibrahim brother, Noora, aspired to be a poet. It is said that several of his poems and ghazals had been used in films under a pseudonym.

  Some members of the film industry allegedly tried to utilize their connections with politicians, including Sharad Pawar, and people in power in the central government to stop this line of investigation. There were also rumours of money changing hands. Whatever the cause, there were no more immediate arrests.

  Rajesh Pilot, the union minister of state for home affairs, wanted to expose the nexus between the film industry and the underworld. Whatever his reason—some commentators believed it was the close relationship Pawar had with people in the film industry—Pilot was desirous of involving the central government in the investigations, through an agency like the CBI.

  April and May were difficult for Pawar. Both Parliament and the state legislative assembly were in session. Pawar was still a member of Parliament, and yet to be elected to the state legislature. In both places, it was not only members of the Opposition but also his detractors within his own party posing increasingly embarrassing questions. Dharamchand Choradia of the BJP asked Pawar in the state assembly why charges were not pressed against all the people who were named in the confessions of Kadawala, Hingora and Sanjay. Pawar responded promptly that the suspect who had revealed the name of Sanjay Dutt had also named a Shiv Sena leader. Charges had not been levelled against him either.

  In the second week of his detention, Sanjay was shifted to the Thane Central Prison where most undertrials were lodged. He had been remanded in custody until 3 May, but the police requested an extension of another fourteen days in order to gather more evidence. This was granted.

  The days seemed interminable to Sanjay. He began to chain-smoke. Some things had improved though. He was being brought food from home. His father had promised that the best lawyers would be found to defend him. However, the whole period seemed nightmarish.

  The media had a heyday at his expense. Some newspapers denounced him as a traitor, some complained about the five-star treatment he was allegedly receiving. The Shiv Sena was especially vindictive in its campaign against Sanjay.

  As there seemed to be no further arrests from the film industry, its members gradually rallied around Sunil Dutt. Subhash Ghai, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Mahesh Bhatt and others organized morchas to protest Sanjay’s continuing detention, and also approached the media, politicians and police to try to assist Sanjay. Many protested that Sanjay should be charged under the Arms Act, rather than the harsher TADA. They pointed out that both his parents were loyal citizens and that his father was an MP who had tried to do much good for his constituents.

  There were films worth Rs 70 crore, including Amaanat and Mahanta, for which Sanjay was shooting, and now work on these had halted. Their directors and producers were very worried about the losses that mounted with each day of filming lost.

  The posters for Subhash Ghai’s movie Khalnayak, starring Sanjay, which was soon to be released had a huge blow-up of Sanjay, handcuffed, proclaiming ‘Ha, main hoon khalnayak (Yes, I am a villain)!’ Some people took these posters as a public message. In the film, Sanjay played a freedom fighter’s son who turns traitor. People accused Ghai of cashing in on the tragedy, though Ghai protested that it was an unfortunate coincidence.

  Sunil Dutt filed an appeal on 5 May before a two-judge bench in the High Court, which led to Sanjay’s release on bail against the custody order of the specially designated TADA judge, Patel.

  Fifteen days spent in police custody seemed akin to a lifetime to Sanjay. When he finally reached home there was a small crowd gathered outside. There were chants of ‘Welcome, Sanju baba’, ‘Baba, we are with you’, and ‘We love you, Sanju’. Friends garlanded and hugged him, and admirers threw petals from a distance. It seemed like a welcome to a war hero, and Sanjay enjoyed it. Though he was frequently away from home for much longer periods, this time homecoming was special.

  Sanjay was required to be present at the court every Monday, and as he had been granted interim bail he could not leave the city without prior permission from the courts.

  After a few days spent sleeping, Sanjay decided to catch up on work. Many of his films were incomplete, including big-budget ones like Mahesh Bhatt’s Gumraah, Afzal Khan’s Mahanta, and Ramesh Sippy’s Aatish which he had been shooting for in Mauritius prior to his arrest. There were a couple of others that required only a few days’ work to complete, such as Sajid Nadiadwala’s Andolan.

  An unprecedented sympathy wave for Sanjay ensured that Subhash Ghai’s Khalnayak became a huge hit. Initially the character played by Sanjay was killed in the end but Ghai allegedly changed the climax to suit the mood of the masses. Sanjay was shown to turn over a new leaf and pledge to surrender to the law. Later Ghai explained that he had shot three endings for his film, which was what he usually did, and used what he thought suited the film best.

  Ironically, Sanjay’s market value started soaring after his arrest and subsequent release. Producers wanted to capitalize on his popularity. His house was once again buzzing with activity. However, there had been a price to pay. Prior to his arrest he had been very close to actress Madhuri Dixit; now, however, she had publicly denied all connection with him.
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  Sanjay plunged into work, becoming uncharacteristically punctual and regular for his shootings and other commitments. Thus life continued, until the trial started the following January.

  ■

  After Sanjay Dutt’s arrest, people began to wonder about the involvement of film stars and politicians in the blasts. Consequently there rose a clamour for the involvement of the CBI in the investigations.

  On 21 April, at Samra’s daily press briefings, a journalist asked him whether he thought the CBI would do a better job of the investigations than the police were doing. Samra, who rarely got angry, frowned and replied that the police force was better equipped as they had more local expertise. He had worked in the CBI, and he did not consider the organization to be capable of doing as good a job of investigating the bomb blasts as the police force.

  The demand spread from the Maharashtra assembly to the Lok Sabha that the politician-underworld nexus should be probed. Those politicians who are close to the gangsters should be unmasked. On 21 April, the opposition parties in the Lok Sabha, mainly the BJP and the Communist parties, demanded that the investigation into the blasts should be handed over to the CBI.

  In early May, Pilot wrote to Narasimha Rao, informing him that party workers sensed a serious nexus between the underworld, some politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats, and that a CBI probe would prove that the government was not shielding anyone, no matter how highly placed they were.

  The Maharashtra assembly was also fiercely discussing this alleged nexus, and the opposition leader Gopinath Munde repeatedly insinuated that Pawar had links with Dawood Ibrahim. The press went to town with this allegation.

  Pawar had stated over and over again that the Bombay police were doing a commendable job. He had cited the example of the bombing of the World Trade Centre, New York, earlier that year where investigators had taken two months to identify the culprits. The Bombay police had managed to find the culprits within forty-eight hours.

  On 10 May, Pawar wrote to the prime minister stating that he had no objection to the CBI handling the investigations. However, he also mentioned his apprehensions that this might lead to some unwanted delays. Pressure mounted on the prime minister as MPs petitioned for CBI involvement.

  The union home ministry also formed a high-level team to trace the links of politicians, bureaucrats, film personalities and other influential people with the underworld. This team comprised union home secretary N.N. Vohra, IB director A.N. Vaidya, CBI director S.K. Dutta, the RAW secretary J.S. Bedi, the Central Board for Customs and Excise chairman Mrs Govind Raj and Rajesh Pilot. At their first meeting on 15 July, they were directed to submit their report within three months. This was the first time that such a specialist team had been formed to probe a high-level nexus.

  At the end of May it was announced that the case would be handed over to the CBI. CP Samra reacted sharply. At his daily press briefing the day after the announcement was made, he stated that his men had worked day in and day out and that they had made very good progress. Despite the announcement, actual CBI involvement in the case did not start until after the chargesheet was filed.

  10

  Prize Catches

  DIG Ulhas Joshi of Thane range was much irked. He could not tolerate the fact that the Bombay police had made over thirty arrests from the area under his jurisdiction. There is an axiom in police circles that one is only as good as one’s last case. Joshi did not want to be left out of what seemed to be the case of the decade.

  Joshi had learned during the course of the investigations that Addl. CC Thapa was suspected of having connived with his colleagues—Singh, Sultan, Talawadekar and others—who had been implicated for collusion with Tiger Memon’s men. Thapa, after receiving information, had laid a trap in the wrong place, and Tiger and his men had carried the RDX and the guns by the other route.

  Thapa was a very senior official of the customs department, the second in the customs hierarchy in the state and at that time senior to JCP Singh, the chief of the crime branch. He was a central government employee. Joshi knew that to take any action against Thapa, he would have to take the help of the director general of police (DGP), S. Ramamurthy, and Samra.

  On 22 April, Joshi sought permission to raid Thapa’s house. Ramamurthy and Samra were both aware that Thapa had powerful connections, and that there could be many repercussions of a raid. At the same time, they realized that Joshi’s reasons for demanding this were adequate.

  Ramamurthy suggested that Joshi organize the raid the following day, as it was already late in the evening. Joshi replied that that might be too late. He suggested they carry out the raid the same evening.

  It was 11 p.m. by the time Joshi and his team reached Thapa’s eighth-floor apartment at Hyderabad Estate, Peddar Road, in south Bombay. Though Thapa expressed outrage and indignation, he did not seem to be surprised. The raid took a couple of hours, the police party showing scant respect for Thapa’s senior post. But Joshi had to return empty-handed.

  Joshi realized that Thapa must have somehow got wind of the raid, and this made him all the more determined to arrest him. The following day he began scouting around for people in the customs department who could provide him with information about Thapa. He talked to ACC R.K. Singh and other junior officers who had been suspended by Thapa after the landing agents had named them as being on their payroll. Their statements and other circumstantial evidence that pointed to Thapa’s complicity in the landings provided Joshi with enough material to secure permission for Thapa’s arrest.

  Thapa was charged with complicity in landing arms. Though he had received an alert from S.K. Bhardwaj, the collector of customs, dated 25 January, he had not taken sufficient precautionary measures, it was alleged. Customs inspector L.D. Mahtre of Uran had informed Thapa that there was likely to be a landing at Shekhadi, and therefore a watch should be maintained at the Sai Morba-Goregaon junction, the main exit point from the Mhasla-Srivardhan area. Thapa had reportedly not informed the officers of Alibaug division, in whose jurisdiction Shekhadi was. Instead, he had laid a trap at Purarphata on MhaslaGoregaon Road on 30 January. Later, the chargesheet also mentioned that Thapa had left the site of nakabandi at Dehanphata for some time. The team had given up the vigil after 2 February, though there had been so many warnings about the landing.

  The most damning allegation against Thapa was about 2 February, the day before the first landing. Addl. CC V.M. Deophade had informed Thapa that a landing was likely to take place near Mhasla and the consignment belonged to Tiger Memon. Thapa had allegedly sent a misleading wireless message that something had happened at Bankot, which was on an entirely different route from Mhasla and thus diverted the customs officials.

  Thapa was also accused of suppressing information that the consignment that had landed on 3 February contained chemicals, not silver as was usual.

  The furore over Thapa’s arrest eclipsed that which had arisen when Sanjay Dutt had been arrested. Sanjay had always been notorious for his wayward lifestyle, whereas Thapa had seemed the epitome of respectability.

  Despite all the controversy, Thapa remained stoic. He remained in prison until 5 April 1994.

  ■

  In accordance with Tiger’s instructions, Badshah Khan reached Delhi on 20 April. He checked in at a hotel in Karol Bagh, under the name of Nasir Khan. The next day, he telephoned Tiger to let him know his whereabouts. Within a couple of hours, he received a thick bundle of notes, Rs 10,000 in all, and instructions to go to Calcutta.

  Badshah left for Calcutta, where he stayed at Hotel Nataraj near Howrah Station. He called himself Nasir Shaikh. Once again he called Tiger in Dubai. Tiger told him that he would have a visitor soon and Badshah should accompany him wherever he was going. But no one turned up, and after a few days Badshah tried to call Tiger again. This time, he could not get through. After a few days, Badshah shifted to the nearby Hotel Meghdoot. He tried contacting Tiger repeatedly, but his efforts proved vain. He decided to return to his village, Rampur, via D
elhi.

  Badshah was confused and lonely. His link with Tiger was severed and he had no idea what his next step should be. With each rapidly passing day, his anxiety increased. He was in touch with his family and friends in Bombay, and followed newspaper reports, and he was well informed about the developments in the investigation. He was sure he would never be found, because no one knew about his whereabouts except his family and a few close friends.

  But on 10 May, a police team from Bombay, led by Inspector Mahabole, picked him up from Rampur. He did not feel shocked or alarmed at his arrest; he realized that within himself he had thought it was inevitable. He was brought back to Bombay by train. The police records, however, showed that he was arrested in Bombay, not in Rampur.

  Day and night had no meaning for Rakesh Maria any more, it had all blended into one continual feeling of stress. Though early breakthroughs had been made, since then nothing much had happened. Many of the key people—like Javed Chikna, Anwar Theba, Yeba Yaqub and Badshah Khan—remained elusive. When he heard the news of Badshah’s arrest, he felt a great sense of relief. Finally, things could get moving again.

  Maria had asked that Badshah Khan be brought to the Mahim police station on 12 May at 9 a.m. When he reached there, he heard that Badshah had already arrived and asked for him to be brought in.

  Maria sank into his chair and began fiddling with the paperweight on the desk. Inspector Mahabole escorted his charge in. Maria saw a sallow youth in his late twenties, dressed in a once-white kurta-pyjama, with a haggard face and a straggly beard. Oddly though, Maria instinctively liked him. He asked him to sit down.