Dongri to Dubai - Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia

by Hussain Zaidi

  Raje was well aware of the fact that it was not an easy task to be Dawood’s aide de camp in Bombay in his absence, seeing as his boss had left behind several groups of his bloodthirsty enemies. These deadly enemies included the Pathans and minions of Mastan. The threats of Bashu Dada and Abdul Kunju in the Chembur area were still not ruled out entirely since Dawood’s relocation to Dubai. Moreover, he had become complacent and had been recklessly taking on his enemies. Raje inherited not only these ongoing rivalries but also a growing sense of insecurity from myriad gangs in the city.

  Being a mafia man and one of Dawood’s sharpshooters, Raje was intimate with the intricacies of mafia killings. Two shooters follow their quarry’s car, halt it next to the car at a signal, point the gun, shoot mindlessly, and scurry off. This was the general modus operandi of most killings. Raje got himself a heavily fortified car with tinted black glasses and always sat in the middle of the rear seat with two bouncers on either side of him and one more in the front seat. He felt secure with this arrangement, but he forgot that security has failed many a target: even the president of the United States or Indian prime ministers can be killed if the killers are determined enough.

  And these were determined men. Gawli and his men, which included Sada Pawle, Vijay Tandel, Paul Newman, Ganesh Vakil, and other boys from Dagdi Chawl, followed Raje from his den in Parel and decided to strike near Nagpada junction on 21 November 1988. When Raje’s car reached the Mazgaon-Nagpada junction, two cars intercepted it. The plan was made with elaborate precision and with utmost care to complete the killing in less than a minute.

  Before Raje’s bouncers could get even a whiff of his assailants’ plans, three hammers shattered the windowpanes of the car. Until then, hammers were not used in encounters in Bombay. Newman honed in on Raje, spotting him in between his bouncers, while others, as per instructions, kept the bouncers engaged. Nine bullets were pumped into Raje, leaving him dead on the spot along with his three bouncers.

  The killing completely rattled Dawood. Not only had he lost his top man on home turf, Gawli had managed to kill a much-protected fox like Raje swiftly, reacting within months.

  With this move, Gawli had declared war against Dawood. Now, he just could not be ignored. Dawood immediately assigned the task of avenging Raje’s killing to his Man Friday, Rajan. Rajan’s brief was clear: settle the score within a few days and cause greater damage to Gawli.

  Rajan immediately began to scout for bigger wickets amongst the members of Gawli’s gang. Finally, he zeroed in on Ashok Joshi, who was almost like an elder brother to Gawli. Rajan then bribed Joshi’s driver Shyamsunder Nair, who tipped him off about Joshi’s movements.

  The trap was laid near the exurb of Panvel. Within fifteen days, Rajan activated his best shooters Sautya and Wangya.

  It was a chilly night on 3 December 1988. Shyamsunder Nair smiled to himself as he drove his master, gangster Ashok Joshi, and three of his fellow gangsters towards Pune. While Joshi was engaged in conversation with the other occupants of the car, only Nair knew that a hit squad of fifteen men from Joshi’s rival Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar’s gang was on its way to intercept the vehicle.

  The hit squad was led by Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan, who was still with Dawood at the time. He left his Tilak Nagar residence and was joined by Sautya, regarded by some as the Chhota Shakeel of the eighties. Sautya was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and fifteen automatic handguns. Others joined the duo on the way, including Jayendra alias Bhai Thakur from Virar. The guns were distributed as the five cars sped towards Pune.

  Nair had recently switched loyalties and had informed the rival camp of Joshi’s plans to go to Pune that night. Wasting no time, Dawood, who had been aching to eliminate Joshi, ordered Rajan to ensure that Joshi was killed on the way.

  The bloody face-off occurred near Panvel, where the attacking cars surrounded Joshi’s car and the assailants jumped out. Joshi, who had for some time begun to suspect Nair, immediately recognised his treachery, drew his gun, and shot Nair through the head, cursing.

  The shot elicited a volley of bullets from Rajan and his men, and Joshi’s car was riddled with countless rounds. Blood and flesh splattered the interior of the car, and Joshi and his three henchmen were killed on the spot. Within seconds, Rajan sped away with his men as the car slowly fell apart, after having been hammered by their bullets.

  With this killing, the battle lines were clearly drawn between two erstwhile friends, both wanting to prove their supremacy. The think tanks of both gangs began to plot each other’s downfall, drawing up lists of probable targets.

  And then began a violent and unabated chain of bloodletting. Hoteliers, financiers, gang sympathisers, financiers, and supporters on each side were eliminated with impunity. Bombay’s police were reduced to mere spectators though a section of the top brass believed it was good that the gangsters were killing each other and thus reducing the number of outlawed people. What they did not realise was that the escalating law and order situation had rendered the common man vulnerable and the city unsafe. And as this spate of gang violence rocked the city, the mafia stooped to a new low and violated its own cardinal principles.

  Family’s blood is sacred and should never be spilled, howsoever bitter the animosity between the two warring groups, was a key tenet of mafia rule in Bombay. Family members who were part of the mafia gang were excluded from amnesty but the mafia never targeted those who were not involved in the murky business of organised crime.

  Now, Dawood knew that Gawli did not have brains of his own. Earlier he had thrived on the cunningness of Rama Naik and Babu Reshim and when both of them had been killed, Gawli took Ashok Joshi as his mentor. After Joshi’s killing, Gawli consulted his older brother, Papa Gawli. Gawli rarely left Dagdi Chawl but Papa Gawli walked on the street without reserve. Papa assumed that Dawood upheld the decree of mafia ethics and would not target him.

  On 22 January 1990, Dawood’s newly hired sharpshooter followed Papa Gawli to Sitladevi temple at Mahim and shot him dead. For the purveyors of death, a lifeless body is just another casualty. But Papa Gawli was a different ballgame. While Rama Naik’s killing shattered Gawli, who lost a mentor, it was Papa Gawli’s death that put him on a sticky wicket in his home turf.

  Papa’s killing paralysed the gang and its ringleader. Gawli was plagued by guilt, holding himself responsible for his brother’s death and the deaths of those near to him, which lingered in his mourning.

  Seizing the opportunity afforded by this lull, Dawood launched a full-scale attack against the Gawli gang. Gawli’s top aides like Paul Newman were killed. Then Sunil Sawant stormed the Kanjur village with an AK-47 and killed six of Gawli’s men in one single siege.

  Gawli’s silence and reclusion hit his gang hard. The morale of the gang plummeted, hitting the lowest point since its inception. At last, Gawli’s men decided to retaliate and planned to eliminate someone who was not only considered close to Dawood, but was also regarded as a big hit for the gang.

  The name suggested was that of Ibrahim Parkar. Parkar was Dawood’s sister Hasina’s husband. Of all his sisters, Dawood was closest to her. Ismail Ibrahim Parkar was the victim of the age-old adage—an eye for an eye. Parkar was chosen as his target.

  Parkar, a junior film artist, also owned the Qadri hotel in Arab gully, Nagpada. On 26 July 1992, he was sitting at the cash register, going over the accounts and keeping an eye out for any young wannabe bhai who might think of causing trouble at the hotel. Men would drop in and talk to him at regular intervals and would be served tea while they discussed their business disputes. Parkar would listen carefully, ask questions, and try to settle their disputes.

  Parkar stepped out of the hotel late in the afternoon, accompanied by his driver Salim Patel. He was standing outside the hotel when four men walked up to him rapidly. The men drew guns from under their shirts as they approached, fired at Parkar and Patel rapidly, and
ran away.

  Parkar collapsed amidst screams of alarm and cries for help from Patel. He was dead by the time he reached St George hospital, having succumbed to multiple injuries to his vital organs. News of his murder first reached his wife Hasina, and then her brother Dawood, who was in Dubai. Listening with boiling blood to the news on the phone, he issued orders that none of his men were to rest till the killers were hunted down.

  The four shooters were identified as Shailesh Haldankar, Bipin Shere, Raju Batala, and Santosh Patil. A month later, Haldankar and Shere shot a Nagpada businessman dead and fled the scene. However, they made the mistake of returning to the area two days later, were recognised, and caught by residents of the area. They were arrested but were admitted to the JJ Hospital, due to the injuries they sustained while being beaten by the residents.

  It took almost two years for Gawli to fully rally and retaliate, but they eventually affected a massive onslaught on Dawood’s gang. It was now time for Dawood and his gang members to mourn. A pall of gloom had descended not only on the streets of Nagpada and Dongri but also extended to Dawood’s hometown of Mumka in Ratnagiri and his headquarters in Dubai.

  Parkar’s killing brought the non-stop violence and bloodshed to a melancholy halt. But this hard-won peace was to prove transient.

  5

  Shootout at Lokhandwala

  It was the morning of 16 November 1991. The Police Shield matches were in progress at the Hindu Gymkhana; the Police Gymkhana had not yet been built. S. Ramamurthy, the commissioner of Mumbai police, walked into the viewing stand. The officers clicked their heels together swiftly upon his approach. But he seemed to barely notice, appearing preoccupied. A chair was offered and he took a seat, still looking perturbed. Ramamurthy knew he did not have very long to prove himself. There were already whispers among the top cop circles that the bureaucracy was looking for his successor. Gang wars were at their peak, crime in the city was rising unbridled, and the Mumbai police was going through a rather embarrassing phase as a result. The weight of these concerns plagued Ramamurthy this morning.

  Sub-inspector Iqbal Sheikh walked into the viewing gallery and saw Ramamurthy sitting there. He needed a word with him. Iqbal Sheikh, stocky, short, brawny-looking, was an authority on the Mumbai underworld at that time. He was known to have penetrated several mafia circles and had a considerable information network. When Ramamurthy rose to leave, he walked to his side and saluted him stiffly, saying as he accompanied him out, ‘Sir, aaj ek major operation hai [Sir, there is a major operation today].’ Ramamurthy looked at Sheikh, his face betraying a perceptible apprehensiveness. He opened his mouth to say something. Then he changed his mind and sped off in his car.

  Sheikh turned on his heels and re-entered the gymkhana. His friend Atul Choudhary, captain of the Hindu Gymkhana team, looked at him and gestured to ask where he was going. Sheikh raised his forefinger and index finger, as if shooting an invisible bullet. Choudhury nodded and raised his thumb at Sheikh for good luck. Iqbal Sheikh collected his belongings and left. It was 10:45 am, and he was on his way to Lokhandwala, Andheri.

  On Carter Road in Bandra, at the office of A.A. Khan, additional commissioner of police, north region, the members of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) were getting ready to leave. Inspectors M.A. Qavi, Pramod Rane, Ambadas Pote; sub-inspectors Jhunjharrao Gharal, Sunil Deshmukh, Jagdale, Iqbal Sheikh, Raja Mandge, and seven constables of the Local Arms Division prepared for what was to come. The ATS was a special squad that had been set up at Khan’s insistence. In those days, the main role of the ATS was to fight the menace of the Khalistani terrorists and underworld gangsters; today, their ambit is far wider, including counter-intelligence measures against all kinds of terrorism as well as gathering and using intelligence.

  A constable was dispatched to the storeroom to bring out the bulletproof vests. The constable came back reporting, ‘Saheb, tala laga hai. Chabiwala constable aaya nahi. [It’s locked. The constable who has the key hasn’t come in today.]’ One of the inspectors commanded the man to break the lock and get the crucial vests. At last they found, five bulletproof vests for eight officers. When the vests were being distributed, Iqbal Sheikh said he would not need one, and upon hearing this, Gharal said, ‘Mujhe bhi nahi chahiye [I don’t want one either].’ With arms and ammunition collected, they prepared to set off. ‘Chalo chalte hain Andheri Lokhandwala. Telephone number mil gaya hai! [Come on, let’s go to Andheri Lokhandwala. We’ve found the telephone number],’ said Inspector Pramod Rane, as they charged out towards Andheri. It was 11:30 am.

  The policemen had got a tip-off that Dilip Buwa, a ferocious sharpshooter of the Dawood Ibrahim gang directly under the command of Maya Dolas, there. Their team stopped at the RTO junction at Andheri and sent out a party consisting of Qavi, Rane, Pote, and Sunil Deshmukh and Iqbal Sheikh for a recce. The team arrived at the Apna Ghar complex in Swami Samarth Nagar, Lokhandwala, Andheri. The Apna Ghar complex consisted of four buildings: Rohini, Swati, Aditi, and Ashwini. Swati stood in the northwestern corner of the compound and had two wings, A & B. Flat number 5 was on the ground floor of the A wing. The policemen closed in.

  Outside the flat sat two white Maruti Esteems. It was a well-known fact that Dilip Buwa drove a white Maruti Esteem. He was, in these days, so wanted by the police that he always left the keys in the ignition—just in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

  The recce team surveyed the surroundings and returned to the rest of the team. Inspector Qavi drew a map of the area to work with. Flat number 5 was the only flat in the entire complex with two exits, so the police team decided to split up. The northern exit opened out near the staircase and the southern exit into the compound. One team, consisting of Qavi, Gharal, and Deshmukh, would enter through the southern entrance and the other team, consisting of Rane, Mandge, and Sheikh, would enter through the northern entrance. The remaining constables and officers were stationed in the compound.

  Everyone in position, Qavi stormed through the door with his team. On the other side, Sheikh was standing with his ear to the door. At first, he heard what he later discovered were the dialogues of the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Akela playing, and then he heard gunfire. Rapid gunfire! The action had begun. Qavi had entered the house with Gharal and Deshmukh. Dilip Buwa was sitting on a chair with a revolver on the table next to him. As soon as he saw the trio, he picked up his weapon and began to fire. As they were not in uniform, and he mistook them for members of a rival gang. In the first round, Gharal was hit in the chest and as he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, he collapsed and began to bleed profusely. Qavi was injured in the arm but protected from graver injuries by his vest. Only Deshmukh and Qavi managed to return fire and began to withdraw, pulling Gharal to safety.

  Outside, all wireless units were whipped out and news of the exchange of fire was conveyed. Never before had gangsters shot at the police to wilfully kill them. This was a first and it was an unbearable insult. Within minutes news of the injured cops spread like wildfire and several units of police from all over the city began to descend upon Lokhandwala, swearing the gangsters would not walk out alive from here. It was 1:30 pm.

  By 1:15 pm, reinforcements were put in place and the complex was transformed into a fortress. All activity had ceased and people were cowering in their houses. But the police were being cautious, with two of their number already injured, they were not going to take any chances.

  One crucial observation had been made by Qavi’s team, in the meanwhile. They had seen Mahindra alias Maya Dolas in Buwa’s flat. This was now a whole new ball game. Maya Dolas, once a small-time hoodlum, had shot to public attention when he escaped from judicial custody on 14 August earlier that year. He had attacked a constable and run away from Mazgaon court, and this was not a slight the police were going to forget in a hurry. Subsequently, he shot at Ashok Joshi, a member of Arun Gawli’s gang, at a Ganpati pandal in Bhandup. This shootout had left five innocent bystanders
dead. Lately, reports of his increasing closeness to Dawood Ibrahim had been trickling in. The police had come in looking for Buwa— Dolas was an added bonus. Additionally, they had spotted other gangsters, Gopal Pujari, Anil Khubchandani, Anil Pawar, and Raju Nadkarni, and one unidentified man inside the house. It was time to take action.

  The police took their positions in the building compound, united in a full show of strength. Khan announced the necessity of surrender to the gangsters under siege, using a loudspeaker. In the meantime, Dilip Buwa, accompanied by an unknown man, emerged from the southern entrance and headed towards his Esteem, firing indiscriminately, in a bid to escape. But there were far too many cops around for them to take on. When the police returned fire, it came from so many directions that Buwa and the unknown man were reduced to a couple of bullet-ridden bodies. They collapsed a few metres from the front door and died on the spot. Now, there remained Maya Dolas and his henchmen. It was 1: 40 pm.

  The action now moved to the terrace, which connected the two wings of the building. One unit of the police reached the terrace of the A-wing through the B-wing. They wanted to ensure that no civilians were taken as hostages. No sooner did they reach the terrace than they heard Gopal Pujari and Raju Nadkarni rushing up the staircase. The team swooped down on the two gangsters. Raju Nadkarni was shot down on the second floor and Gopal Pujari on the first. Now Dolas and Pawar remained. Anil Khubchandani could not be seen anywhere.

  Khan continued to demand surrender, all this while; there was no way these men could hope to escape alive. But finally, when Dolas and Pawar emerged from the exit near the staircase, they too appeared not in surrender, but rather with their AK-47 rifles. The police immediately opened fire. They could not afford more casualties. In a hail of bullets, Dolas and Pawar were seen going down. For a long time after they were dead, the sound of the bullets could be heard resounding through the compound. It was 4:30 pm.