The Psychopathic Serial Killer Raman Raghav that created terror in the city of Mumbai during the 1960’s.
In Anurag Kashyap’s just released feature film “Raman Raghav 2.0” the character played by the talented Nawazuddin Siddiqui is inspired by a real life psychopathic killer. This serial killer existed in the city of Mumbai during the 1960’s and was called Raman Raghav. Now the question to be asked is who Raman Raghav was and what exactly were his crimes?
HIS background and his modus operandi
Raman Raghav to begin with was a psychopathic killed that existed in the city of Mumbai a.k.a. City of Dreams during the 1960’s. His crimes included mainly murder and assault. Unfortunately though not much is known about Raman’s personal history as also the reason why he committed those crimes. The only real personal information available about this man is the fact that he was born in 1929 and that he had raped his sister before brutally killing her.
The basic modus operandi of this psychopath included mainly killing pavement and hutment dwellers while they were fast asleep with a hard and a blunt object used as a weapon. So basically he liked to target victims that usually opted to sleep in the open.
When did the serial killings begin and how was “Raman Raghav” identified
The serial killings carried out by Raman (mainly during the night) first began during the years 1965-1966 when, approximately 19 people were reported to have been attacked in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. A total of 9 out of those 19 were apparently killed. He was also arrested by the Mumbai Police during this period on suspicion but, due to lack of evidence had to be released. It was finally in August 1968 when serial killings similar to the ones witnessed in 1965-66 once again erupted and, the involvement of Raman was confirmed by an eye witness named Krithika. That the police lead by the then Deputy Commissioner of Police Ramakant Kulkarni CID took over the investigation and launched an operation to hunt down this fearsome psychopathic serial killer.
His Arrest, Investigation, and Trial
It was a sub-inspector by the name of Alex Fialho who recognized Raman Raghav with the help of photographs available in the police records, searched him in the presence of two eye witnesses, and then eventually arrested him. It was during investigation that he first revealed his name to be Raman Raghav. Although according to police records he in fact used a number of aliases such as “Sindhi Dalwai”, “Talwai”, “Anna”, “Thambi”, and “Veluswami”. The arrest of Raman Raghav was made as per section 302 of the Indian Penal Code i.e. IPC with the charge being murder. On further investigations it was found that he possessed a pair of glasses, two combs, a pair of scissors, garlic, and tea powder. It was also found that the bush shirt and the khaki shorts that he was wearing were smeared with bloodstains while, his shoes was filled with mud.
Initially he refused to cooperate and did not answer any questions asked by the police. It was only after his wish to eat “chicken curry” was fulfilled by the police that he began to speak up. It was during this period that he openly confessed to have committed 41 murders. He also willingly showed the police the areas in the city he operated in. It was then at the court of the Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate that the preliminary trial of Raman first began. This case was then transferred to the Additional Sessions Court in Mumbai on 2nd June 1969.
It was during this trial in the Additional Sessions Court that the lawyer of the defence appealed to the court via an application that stated that the accused was “mentally unstable” and so was incapable of defending himself. The application further stated that the accused at the time of committing the crimes was unaware about the fact that his acts were against the law of the land due to his unstable mind. The judge of the Additional Sessions Court however found him guilty and sentenced him to death. This verdict was then challenged by the defence in the Bombay High Court. And before arriving at the final verdict the high court ordered the Surgeon General Mumbai to form a “Special Medical Board” consisting of three psychiatrists. This board was formed with the intention to determine whether the accused:
(a). Actually possessed an unstable mind and
(b). If he did whether that unstable mind could result in the accused not being able to defend himself.
The result of the examination conducted by the Surgeon General clearly stating that “He (accused) was of average intelligence and there is no organic disease to account for his mental condition”. The final verdict of this trial however was a reduction in the sentencing from death to life imprisonment due to his unstable mind.
The psychology of the man
The fact remains that the psychology of this man is shrouded in mystery. The medical examination conducted by the Special Medical Board suggesting that he exhibited “delusions of persecution and grandeur”. That included the strong belief that he represents power or Shakti. He also firmly believed that he was a 101 per cent man. Another interesting fact about this man was that even after the Police Surgeon, Mumbai had observed him for about a month and declared him a sane human with average intelligence. His sentence was reduced to life imprisonment from death on the basis that he was mentally unstable. This contradiction clearly indicating that, he either was truly mentally unstable or he just possessed his own twisted world view that became his reality.
It was eventually in 1995 that Raman Raghav died due to a kidney problem. Thereby resulting in the closure of a chapter called “PSCYHO RAMAN” in the crime history of the “City that never sleeps” i.e. Mumbai.
The notorious gangster in Mumbai during the early seventies Manohar or “Manya” Surve.
“Madarchod Policewala bhadwa log” screamed Manya Surve a dreaded Mumbai gangster of the early seventies while been taken on his way to the Sion Hospital after he had been shot by the police on the 11th January 1982 which also happened to become Mumbai’s first official police encounter. With the just released John Abraham starrer Shootout at Wadala loosely based on the gangster and his encounter it certainly raises the curiosity as to how this educated man from a lower middle class family in Mumbai did eventually managed to become one of Mumbai’s most feared gangsters in early seventies.
So to understand the life of Manya Surve one must understand his background. So Manya Surve or Manohar Surve was born to a typical Maharashtrian lower middle class family in 1944 in the city of Mumbai. He went to educate himself and graduate himself in BA with 78% a distinction from Kirti College, Dadar. It was his elder brother Bhargav Surve who was in the illicit liquor at that time. Things started to go wrong for Manya in 1969 when he was named by the police as an accomplice to his older brother in a case which he beat up a businessman from Prabhadevi to death with hockey stick and bamboo shoots. This was the incident that Manya always claimed made him a criminal. He was then arrested and taken to Yerawada Central Jail where in protest of his arrest he went on a hunger strike. This hunger strike lead to health issues for Manya and as result he was admitted to Sasoon Hopsital. It was at the hospital on 24th November 1979 that Manya’s best friends Bajirao Patil and Sheikh Munir visited him and took this opportunity to throw chili powder in the eyes in the policeman placed on guard allowing Manya to finally escape. It is after his escape that he formed his gang with which he began to rob, murder etc and create havoc on streets of Mumbai and, he also happened to be such a big fan of James Hadley Chase that he plotted a majority of his robberies and murders using these books as reference. Such was an aura created by Manya that it brought him to the attention of many gangs at that time and one of the gang taking particular interest in Manya was the notorious Pathan brothers.
It was during this time that the Pathan brothers i.e. Amirzada and Alamzeb were looking for someone who could help mastermind the killing of Sabir Ibrahim who along with younger brother Dawood Ibrahim were slowly on the rise in the Mumbai mafia as a result of which the Pathans wanted to end the growing clout of the brothers by killing Sabir Ibrahim. It was well known that Manya was a brilliant strategist and hence he was approached by the Pathan brothers who by now was aware of his reputation. It was also said that Manya wanted to settle score with the Kaskar brothers and so willingly agreed to master mind the killing of Sabir. He also believed that in order to break the spine of Dawood-Sabir gang it was imperative to separate one from the other. So one night as Sabir was returning from his rendezvous with prostitute Chitra he was quietly being followed by an Ambassador which was made to look a wedding car. This car followed Sabir until he stopped near Prabhadevi to refill his car with petrol. As soon as Sabir’s car stopped the decorated Ambassador came screeching right behind and before Sabir could find his gun he was surrounded by five armed men including Manya and was fired at brutally. Such was the ferocity of the killing that years later the neighborhood would still recall the horror of that night. What this killing proved was that Manya was certainly a mastermind when it came to strategy. This killing also proved to be a turning point for Dawood Ibrahim who would no longer just remain a normal goon or as they say in local Hindi “galli ka gunda” but he would soon rise as a don who would eventually give a whole new definition to the word power.
With the terror of Manya growing by the day within the city the Mumbai police was increasingly getting restless to stop this menace. It was then that finally in 1981 the then police Commissioner Julio Riberio formed a special team to bring down Manya and his gang. This special team included senior inspector Issac Samson, Inspector Yashwant Bhide and sub inspectors Raja Tambat, Sanjay Parande, and Ishaq Bhagwan. This operation which was called “Operation Manya Surve” lead to systematic breakdown of the gang with most of Manya’s members being captured by the police. Although, anticipating his capture Manya had managed to go underground to evade the police. Unfortunately for Manya his luck ran out and it was his love for a woman that proved to be his downfall. Apparently, he was in love with a woman in his locality who was a widow and who had a child. It was said that it was Dawood who closely kept a watch on Manya for several days before finally informing the police about his rendezvous with his girlfriend in Wadala. It was also said that his girlfriend betrayed him and informed the police on the behest of Dawood. Whatever, the truth maybe the fact remains that on 11 January 1982 the special squad set up by the Mumbai police was ready to capture Manya at Ambedkar College in Wadala. Such was the meticulous preparation undertaken by the police that officers Tambat, Bhagwan, and Parande all managed to look like college students by dressing up in jeans and T-shirts. They also carried books in which all of the above officers had revolvers concealed in cavities cut out in the pages of the books. So finally Manya arrived at 10.45 am in a taxi at Ambedkar College in Wadala. He initially drove past a bus stop and stopped several feet ahead completely unaware of the trap set up by the police. It was inspector Bhide that first identified Manya and signaled to the other officers. It was then that these officer’s surrounded the dreaded gangster and warned him saying “Manya Surve thamb aamhi police aahot”. To this warning Manya tried to respond by pulling out his Mauser pistol from underneath his shirt and to fire at the officer’s but before he could cause any damage he was shot with six bullets to his torso thrice by Tambat and Bhagwan. A fatally injured Manya was then taken towards Lokmanya Tilak Muncipal General Hopsital also known as Sion Hospital who kept on hurling abuses and spitting blood on the officers before he eventually succumbed to his injury before admission. Thus bringing to an end the life of one of Mumbai’s most dreaded gangsters and, thereby also officially registering Mumbai Police Department’s first ever encounter.
So the encounter of Manya Surve ended a decade of fear that city was under by Manya and his gang. What also changed was the number of encounters by the Mumbai Police which shows a total of 622 criminals being killed in encounters from 1982 to 2004. What also makes the life of Manya so interesting in many ways is that he was an educated man who took to crime because of his absolute hatred and mistrust towards the police. However, whatever may be the reason for him to take crime it surely does not justify his criminal acts and as they say “Crime never pays” and, so it was with Manya as eventually it was his crimes that caught up with him and which eventually led to him losing his life.
Maria Susairaj and Emile Jerome the key player’s in the brutal murder of TV executive Neeraj Grover.
“You lady are my number one suspect” commented Rakesh Maria the former Head of Mumbai Crime Branch to Maria Susairaj the now infamous Kannada starlet and a key player in what turned out to be one of the most gruesome and intriguing murder cases that India has ever witnessed i.e. Neeraj Grover murder case . The victim in this unfortunate incident was a young television executive from Kanpur Neeraj Grover. This case had all the essential elements for a perfect Bollywood crime thriller (no wonder maverick director Ram Gopal Varma made a movie Not a love story based on this case). Not only did this case have perfect elements for a movie but also makes for an intriguing case study of human psychology.
This case is basically interesting because of the characters and the emotions involved between the three key players in this case i.e. Neeraj Grover, Maria Susairaj and Emile Jerome. To begin with this case like many other cases begins with misplaced ambition among the youth of India today. Today in India due to the growth of various television channels fame has become a very accessible for the younger generations. As a result of this easy accessibility to fame the youth of India today crave for fame and that too at any cost and with utter disregard to discipline and moral values. It was in search of this very perverse “fame” that brought Maria Susairaj to Mumbai which eventually lead to the tragic death of Neeraj Grover. It all began with the ambitions of Maria Susairaj a girl from small town of Mysore in Karnataka with stars in her eyes to hopefully become famous in the Indian entertainment industry. Although Maria was from a economically well off family with her father Joseph Susairaj running a construction firm yet that did not satisfy her and her need to become famous and have a good life was very strongly embedded in her personality. Apart from the need to be famous and lead a great lifestyle there was another striking feature in her personality that was soon to become the trigger for this incident and that feature was her interest in men. Now Maria was not only beautiful but also possessed a charm that could seduce any man she set her eyes on. This was quite evident by the number of relationships she had with men like her former acting teacher Asha Chandra commented “She manipulated boys was always friendly with the men in her group but hardly interacted with the girls”. It is this ability of Maria to manipulate boys by seducing them that triggered the unfortunate turn of events eventually leading to the murder of Neeraj. So as far as Maria goes it was her ambitions and her inherent ability to seduce men when she wanted them that acted as the trigger for the murder but it was actually her naval lieutenant boyfriend Emile Jerome’s extreme obsession for her that undertook this outrageous murder that also included cutting Neeraj’s body into parts and the disposing it in an isolated spot in Manor.
Emile Jerome just like Maria also belonged to an affluent and conservative Jerome family in Mysore. Coincidentally Maria also happened to be Emile’s senior at school. A naval lieutenant by profession who cleared the Naval’s Engineer’s Course in 2000 and was sent to Goa for a six month orientation. Apart from being an intelligent and a very capable naval officer Jerome had big problems with his temper a characteristic in his personality that was to play a huge part in the murder of Neeraj. Such was his temper that his childhood friend Vinay Kumar S commented “ A whole group of boys from our school once convinced me to shut Emilie’s eyes as he returned from a water break but such was his fury as I held him that I could feel his body shivering with the force of his anger”. He also had become possessive about Maria and he also did not like the fact that Maria was an actress which just indicates the extent that Emilie’s possessiveness for Maria had grown. It was this extreme possessiveness that slowly turned to obsession which eventually caused Emilie out of sheer jealousy to brutally murder Neeraj Grover.
As for the victim Neeraj Grover a TV executive from Kanpur whose parents are Amarnath and Neelam Grover although he did not certainly deserve the brutal death that he got he certainly was no saint and his personality certainly played a big role in his death. To begin with Neeraj was a charming 27-year old TV executive from Kanpur who enjoyed the company of different woman. The fact that he loved the company of woman was substantiated by one of Neeraj’s friend Deepak Kumar who said “Neeraj could easily switch from one woman to another without wasting his emotions.” It was this trait in his personality that seduced Maria into believing that Neeraj through his contact in Balaji Telefilms his former employers could get a role on Television and with that a chance to be famous. It is his charms and suave personality along with false promises to Maria that got Neeraj into trouble. He was also known to live life on the edge as Ekta Kapoor Indian television’s Queen and Neeraj’s former employer commented” He was seemingly sweet, but the boy liked to play dangerous games”.
So the question then arises is how did this entire tragedy unfold and that too with absolute brutal consequences. It all began when Maria came down from Bangalore to Mumbai on the April 29th 2008 with an intention of a final attempt at the elusive stardom. What also gave Maria some hope was that Neeraj who worked at Balaji Telefilms and who met her around March while she was auditioning for Balaji kept in touch with her and encouraged her to come to Mumbai as there were more roles to offer here than in Bangalore. Thus with his inherent charm Neeraj certainly convinced Maria to come to Mumbai. In the meanwhile Emile had started becoming more and more possessive about Maria. It was also during these days that Maria has started bringing Neeraj’s name quite often during their daily conversations with Emile causing even more insecurity and jealousy in Emile. It was on the May 6th 2008 when Emile called Maria and it was during this very call he was supposedly to have heard Neeraj who was with Maria at that time say “What kind of a fiancé is he when his girlfriend needs another man to be with her” and this statement most probably was the trigger that provoked an insecure Emile from his naval base at Cochin to travel to Mumbai that very night. It was around seven in the morning on the 7th May 2008 that Emilie arrived at Dheeraj Solatire where Maria lived. On entering the apartment Emilie saw Neeraj fast asleep in his underpants. It was when Neeraj opened his eyes and commented “Oh so this is your boyfriend” that the insecure Emilie finally snapped and he attacked Neeraj. It was during this scuffle that Emile manage to find a knife from the kitchen and stab Neeraj to death. It was after stabbing Neeraj to death that Emile forced Maria to have sex with him. As Rakesh Maria rightly commented “It was a way of cementing an unspoken deal. They were in this together now.” After stabbing the victim Emilie along with Maria washed and mopped the house which was drenched in victim’s blood. He then instructed Maria to get carving knife and fresh set of curtains which Maria did by shopping at the mall Hypercity which is at a close proximity to Dheeraj Solitaire. As Maria returned with the knife Emile then set out to do what can only termed as brutal i.e. cut the victim’s body into different. It took Emilie approximately three hours to finally cut the body into separate parts. The body parts were then carried in two suit cases and three large plastic bags in a blue grey Santro belonging to one of Maria’s acquaintances Kiran Shreyans. It was eventually on May 21st 2008 that the murder of Neeraj Grover was confirmed by the now former head of Mumbai Crime branch Rakesh Maria and bringing to an end one of the most brutal murder’s India has ever seen in recent years.
So how did the situation get this far and how did it lead to a such a tragic death of young man is the question to be asked. The answer really is that it is the personality of Maria, Emilie and Neeraj together that created such a situation that there was no way out except the path to self destruction. It began with Maria’s ambition to become popular and to be seen on television, Emile’s possessiveness for Maria that turned into obsession and to top it all the victim Neeraj himself played his part with his fascination to play dangerous games and live on the edge. So the moral of this story especially for the younger generation is that being a good human being with good moral values must be top priority before thinking about the materialistic pleasures available in the world today. Unfortunately though misplaced ambitions among the young and craze for materialistic pleasures is only growing in our country and I for one will not be surprised if there is another Neeraj Grover case waiting to happen just around the corner.
The legendary American gangster Al “Scarface” Capone.
Fear is the one word that perfectly describes the infamous American gangster of yesteryears of Italian origin Al “Scarface” Capone. The title of “Scarface” was earned by Capone due to a permanent scar on his left cheek which he received from a razor during a brawl he had in his youth. It was during the Prohibition era that Al Capone rose to fame as the king of the Chicago mafia. It was estimated that before Capone was sent to the infamous Alcatraz he had amassed a fortune of around 100 million dollars.
Unlike many of the American gangsters of that time who came from a poor family background Al Capone came from a respectable Italian family. He was born to Gabriele and Teresina Capone as Alphonse Capone in Brooklyn on the January 17, 1899. Capone also had two brothers named Vincenzo and Raffale. Although the Capones lived in a tough neighbourhood they were basically law abiding citizens. It was Capone’s induction in a Catholic school which was marred with violent incidences that had deep impact on the young Capone and became a turning point in Capone taking to crime like a fish takes to water. It was at this very institute that despite being a promising student he was expelled for assaulting a female teacher an incident from which he never looked back and entered the world of crime when around the same time he met gangster Johnny Torrio. It was this interaction with Torrio that had the greatest influence on the impressionable mind of the young Capone who was on his way to become a gangster of significant influence. It was Torrio who taught Capone the importance of maintaining a clean image to the society whilst carrying out the actual illegal business on the sly. He also taught Capone to do away with crude violence which was prevalent at that time and maintain a structure so to give the illicit business a corporate structure. Thus Capone initially began his career in crime by joining Torrio’s James Street Boys gang and eventually rising to the Five Points gang
It was finally in 1909 Torrio moved in from New York to Chicago to run the brothel business in the city. While it was ten years later in 1919 that he called Capone to Chicago city. On his arrival in Chicago Capone was in the news for allegedly master minding the killing of Torrio’s boss Big Jim Colosimo thus making way for Torrio to rule the city of Chicago. It was now 1920 and Prohibition on sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was imposed throughout the country. As is the case with any prohibitory rule the new rule imposed only encouraged new bootlegging operations which resulted in a lot of profits to gangs such as Torrio’s gang who were into the bootlegging of liquor. In 1925 Torrio finally retired from active crime life resulting in Capone taking over the gang and officially becoming the czar of the city of Chicago.
Such was Capone’s hold over the city that be it gambling, prostitution or bootlegging operations he controlled all of them. Has his legend grew in the city he also became renowned for not carrying any arms as security but was always seen with two bodyguards and at times sandwiched between the bodyguards while travelling in a car. He also was known for travelling in the night and travelling in day only if absolutely necessary. With Capone now fully in control of the gang he inherited from Torrio and with control of Chicago city as well he soon moved in to the Metropole Hotel in order to create a celebrity like aura around him. With his growing clout especially in bootlegging business and his sheer ruthlessness and disregard for the law saw a rise of number of murders being carried out by Capone’s men but without being convicted due to lack of evidence.
It was finally in March 1929 that the President of America Herbert Hoover it seems directly questioned his secretary of treasury Andrew Mellon stating “Have you got this fellow Capone yet? I want that man in jail”. As a result of this demand by the President himself that Eliot Ness a young energetic agent with the US Prohibition Bureau was given this huge task of gathering evidences of Prohibitions violations carried out by Capone. As result Ness set out with a team eleven men which was termed “The Untouchables” by the media for refusing a bribe offer from Capone’s men. Although Capone was arrested on charges of tax evasion by the IRS the fact remains that Ness and his band of merry men had very little to do with the arrest. It was finally on the October 17, 1931 that a jury found Capone guilty in several counts of tax evasion was imprisoned for eleven years with bail being denied. In August of 1934 Capone was moved from Atlanta to the infamous Alcatraz in San Fransisco.
With his health rapidly deteriorating in and having contracted tertiary syphilis he became more confused and disoriented. Clearly for end was near for this ruthless gangster ever seen in American mafia history. Capone eventually died on the January 25 1947 at the age of 48 at his Palm Island Palace with his wife Mae Capone besides him. Thus bringing to an end the legend of Al Capone in the history of American mafia, the man who gave fear a new definition and who once appropriately was quoted as saying “I have built my organization upon fear”.
Haji Mastan the first gangster of influence in the history of Mumbai crime.
They say that “Crime is juicier than spirituality” and it becomes even more juicier when there are more opportunities to commit a crime. These opportunities increase by two folds especially in the environment of a large cosmopolitan city like Mumbai. Thus Mumbai like other great cities like New York, Chicago etc has over the years developed a crime culture with an identity of its own. The uniqueness of Mumbai is that as a city it has a large heart and provides many opportunities for people to start their own business especially the ones that exist on the other side of law. It is from these opportunities provided by the city that the history of Mumbai’s mafia syndicate rose from small time smuggling to terrorism.
So the history of crime in this great city Mumbai began just pre-independence with the arrival of Mastan Haider Mirza or popularly known as Haji Mastan as a child along with his father Haider Mirza from a small village of Panankulum in Tamil Nadu. It was in the year 1934 that Haji Mastan along with his father who was a hardworking farmer in Tamil Nadu arrived on the shores of Mumbai with dreams of making a decent living which was not possible back home. Initially Mastan and his father tried their hand at all kinds of menial jobs but finally managed to set up a small mechanic shop which would repair cycles and two wheelers in Bengalipura near Crawford Market. It was during this time Mastan soon realized that the money earned from the mechanic shop was still not sufficient and his ambitions for making it big in this city of dreams grew. It was this growing ambitions in him that lead to him trying to find out schemes that would enable him to make the amount of money that would satisfy his needs. Finally in 1944 Mastan joined the Bomaby docks as a coolie whose job was to unloading boxes from ships arriving from countries like Eden, Hong Kong etc. In 1947 when India got its independence Mastan observed that the British used to charge import duty which was not changed even after the British left India. As a result Mastan saw this as an opportunity to make a good profit if somehow this import duty could be evaded. In those days in Mumbai Phillip transistors and imported watches were in demand. So thus started the career of Mumbai’s first ever influential gangster Haji Mastan.
It was during this period when Mastan met a man called Sheikh Mohammed Al Ghalib who was by origin an Arab who was also looking for someone young and full of energy to support him in smuggling. So thus began a fruitful partnership between Ghalib and Mastan. Slowly but surely Mastan started to create an aura around him with coolie’s in the dock slowly beginning to look at Mastan with respect. He even slowly gained the respect of Ghalib who now offered Mastan a ten per cent cut in their smuggling operations. In 1950 Morarji Desai the chief minister of the then Bombay presidency had applied several prohibitory laws pertaining to liquor and other contraband in the state. These prohibitory laws as is always the case only encouraged more smuggling resulting in Mastan and Ghalib in raking in the moolah. Slowly as smuggling increased so did the rise of Mastan along with his partner in crime Ghalib. Soon after Ghalib who was arrested for three years returned he finally decided to make Mastan his fifty per cent partner in gold smuggling which was in great demand those days. Thus this partnership not only lead Mastan to make a lot of money but also helped Mastan create an aura of one of the most influential smugglers in the city.
It was around this period that Mastan also realized that money alone will not suffice to sustain his numero uno position in the world of smuggling and that he will definitely require muscle power and for that he would need men known for their muscle power at that time and, those men included people like Vardarajan Mudaliar and Karim Lala. Vardarajan Mudaliar from Tamil Nadu. Varda bhai was another renowned gangster of that era. His business interest basically was in the illicit liquor trade and also in prostitution though he himself directly was not involved. Apart from his business he was also know for the power of his personality and for the muscle power he possessed. It was for this reason that Mastan wanted to form an alliance with Varda Bhai. An opportunity finally arose for Mastan when Varda Bhai was arrested for stealing an consignment containing antennae from the docks which was meant for a top politician in the Union ministry. This resulted in Mastan personally coming to meet Vardharajan in lock up. It was during a conversation between the two heavyweights of the Mumbai mafia that a deal was struck between the two. The deal involved that Vardarajan would work for Mastan in return for his freedom from jail. Varda Bhai being practical and seeing an opportunity to make it big in smuggling agreed with Mastan and one of the most powerful alliances in the history of Mumbai’s mafia was formed.
It was around this time that another gangster by the name of Abdul Karim Khan also known as Karim Lala caught the eye of Mastan. Karim Lala a Pathan and an Afghan by origin was basically into gambling and lending money to compulsive gamblers and it was for this reason that he was given the title “Lala”. Latter on Lala realized that there was more money in evicting tenants on behalf of the landlords for a variety of reasons ranging from occupant refusing to pay to landlord expecting more money. It is the formidable reputation of being a muscle man that brought Karim Lala fame which caught the eye of Mastan now the king of the smuggling world. As result Mastan met with Lala after the Friday prayer in Lala’s Taher Manzil. It was during this meeting that a pact was made between the two and was decided that Mastan will use Lala’s muscle power in return for a cut depending on the consignment being smuggled. Thus a major alliance was formed between Mastan-Lala and Varda bhai which fast gained a reputation of being a force to reckon with in the world of smuggling. Little did one realize that a far fearsome, shrewd and a ruthless gangster was about to rise from the streets of Dongri who answered by the name of Dawood Ibraham.
Dawood Ibrahim was born on 26th December 1955 to a head constable havaldar Ibrahim Kaskar of the Mumbai Police. He was the second son in a large Kaskar family that consisted of ten children all together. Dawood’s father being just an head constable often found it hard to feed such a large a family. As a result of which the family many a time would have to remain on a empty stomach. One day Dawood’s father got suspended due to his inability to crack a high profile case. This caused Dawood who was enrolled in the Ahmed Sailor High School to leave his formal education which also proved to be the turning point in Dawood’s life as a criminal in the world of crime.
The first crime that Dawood ever committed was at the tender age of fourteen when he attempted a robbery in his locality. Soon enough the clout of Dawood in his locality in Pakamodia Street Musafirkhana began to grow. He began openly extorting money from the peace loving Bohra community who also were basically business people. Slowly but surely Dawood got into the business of smuggling as during those days there was a lot of money to be made in smuggling. As his clout over the smuggling business in India increased he also turned his attention to Dubai and started interacting with number of sheikhs. It was clear that the luxury and the grandeur Dubai had caught the fancy of Dawood. He also started using what was known as “carriers” to smuggle gold biscuits to Dubai and this operation was called “Kachra Peti”. This operation was named so because the carriers just before it confronted customs would dump the gold biscuits into a garbage bin while signaling an accomplice via a signal to pick the consignment from that particular bin. In this way day by day Dawood’s reputation in the business of smuggling became legendary and overtook everyone else including the Pathan brothers i.e. Amirzada and Alamzeb.
As is most commonly seen in humans jealousy tends to develop within a human faster than lightening travels. This is exactly what happened with Pathan brothers with the rapid growth of Dawood as a smuggler and their inability to break into the business of smuggling the Pathan brothers decided that it was time to break the Dawood’s syndicate monopoly in smuggling. So eventually on 12th of February 1981 Dawood’s elder brother Sabir and a key component of the Dawood syndicate was killed by the Pathan brothers near the Servo Care petrol pump at Prabhadevi.
The death of his brother broke Dawood completely and from that day on he swore revenge. It is for this purpose of revenge that Dawood used David Pardesi to kill Amirzada one of the Pathan brothers in true dramatic style inside the courtroom of the City Civil and Sessions court. With Dawood now wanted for numerous crimes in the city(in 1982 was also arrested under COFEPOSA of the Customs Act) it meant India was no more a safe place for him and he had to find an alternative which he did in Dubai.
Escape from Dongri to Dubai he finally did in 1986 of course with the help of a tip off from an influential and powerful politician within the system just as the police were about to arrest him. With Dubai being the perfect place especially for tax evasion Dawood began to control his city of birth Mumbai from the safe haven called Dubai. Once settled in Dubai Dawood called upon many of his close associates like Sharad Shetty, Chhota Shakeel and the once close associate and now bête noir Chhota Rajan. Chhota Rajan had caught Dawood’s eye with his dare devilry and his eye of minute details in planning. With Dawood controlling many of businesses in various parts of the subcontinent such as real state, various chains of restaurants, financing the Hindi movie industry etc from Dubai everything seemed well in paradise. This paradise soon was to be rocked by internal jealousy which led to the split of Dawood and his protégé Chhota Rajan.
The split between the two resulted as a result of growing jealousy in gang members like Chhota Shakeel, Sharad Shetty due to the lavish praise thrown by Dawood on Chhota Rajan on account of his efficient planning and management skills. As result of this growing insecurity among some of his men and their concerns about Rajan’s growing clout in the gang Dawood himself got insecure. This resulted in Dawood completely isolating his once close associate. Although the breaking point of this relationship came when Chhota Rajan got to know from his close associates that Dawood was planning to kill him. This was the last straw for Chhota Rajan who with the help of RAW(Research Analysis Wing) managed to escape from Dubai.
Soon after Rajan’s escape with Indian government putting pressure on UAE to hand over Dawood, ISI a secret agency in Pakistan who is Dawood’s best friend shifted him out to Karachi where he resides like a king in Clifton beach. He also managed to secure properties in posh areas like Khayabaane Shamsheer. It was eventually on the 15th September 2000 that Chhota Rajan was finally located by Dawood’s gang in Thailand living in a posh neighbourhood of Sukhumvit Soi, 26th street and an unsuccessful attempt on his life was made. With Rajan escaping certain death this rivalry continues although no other attempts have been made on Rajan’s life ever since this attempt. While Dawood has gone way beyond from being a small time thug from Dongri to smuggler eventually now as a certified terrorist with directs link to Al-Qaeda it certainly has been a long journey from Dongri right up till Karachi.
With Dawood in the safe hands of ISI and the Pakistani government he is certainly living king size in his palatial house in Pakistan. Although he is living far away from his home in Dongri India he still controls many businesses in India mostly indirectly. The biggest revenue earner for Dawood in India is the movie piracy industry which is worth around Rs 15,000 crore which ultimately funds terrorism. Thus although the history of crime in Mumbai consisted of many gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala etc the fact remains is that history of crime of Mumbai is all of about one man and his ruthless ambition to rule the world. The man who has continued to live life a king size in the safe haven of Karachi in Pakistan. The man whom the world knows as “DAWOOD IBRAHIM”.
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