Authors: S. Hussain Zaidi
A volley of bullets caught the rattled Shrikant Rai and Vijay Pradhan unawares and injured both of them. Sautya indicated they should all leave but before this, he decided to fire in such a manner that the police party would be scared to fire more bullets.
Turning the barrel of his AK-47 on the constables, he let forth a flurry of bullets which proved to be too much for them. Both Javsen and Bhanawat were hit and fatally injured. Another ricocheting bullet pierced the leg of constable Nagre.
While Subhash Singh and Inspector Thakur were exchanging fire, Sautya called out to Subhash and Shyam and gestured for them to leave. They obeyed, but not before firing a last volley of bullets from their carbine and automatic pistol. Thakur managed to duck and save himself, but the shower of bullets hit a patient, a nurse, and the relative of a patient in the ward.
The hit squad immediately retreated from the scene. In the final analysis, a handful of policemen who were seriously outnumbered and outmanoeuvred put up a courageous fight against the desperadoes. According to the police
panchnama
, over 500 rounds were fired. An AK- 47 took its toll in the outcome of this violent skirmish which lasted barely five minutes yet claimed the lives of many policemen, while inflicting only minor injuries on the shooters.
The audacity of the attack shocked not just those on the hospital premises but the entire locality. Mumbaikars never forget the constant sound of shooting guns, something they had only seen and heard in the movies till now.
The incident also highlighted Dawood’s political connections. The mayor of Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Council Jaywant Suryarao was roped in for the operations; his official red beaconed car was used by Sautya as a getaway vehicle. Also, MLA Pappu Kalani of Ulhasnagar and Union Minister Kalpnath Rai’s nephew Virendra Rai had provided logistical support to the hit squad. The most startling revelation came later when it was discovered that two of the dreaded shooters had travelled on the special plane of a union minister from Maharashtra.
However, despite the colossal amount of legwork and investigation the police and the prosecution undertook, the trial process was arduous. The case went to trial after eight years.
Ironically, Sub-inspector Thakur, the original complainant and key witness, whose heroics on the day made the police force proud of his achievements, could not back up the story of what had really happened during the trial and turned hostile.
Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian, who had implicated forty-one people as accused, could only bring nine of them to trial.
7
Communal Strokes
I
t was a pleasant September evening. A party was in full swing on the open lawns of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees’ bungalow. The event: a celebration of the success of the JJ Hospital shootout.
The audacious shootout had sent the city into a tizzy. The story made it to the front page of all the national newspapers, not only in Mumbai but country wide. That Mumbai’s mafia had a free run of the city’s public institutions, extending even to health care facilities, was unnerving. People were concerned that Bombay, the commercial backbone of the country, would turn into yet another anarchic Indian state like Bihar. The logic was that if criminals could run amok in a state government-run hospital like JJ Hospital, it would not take them long to strike in the corridors of power. From bus stops to trains, in cafeterias and in parties, everybody everywhere was discussing the shootout.
The government and the bureaucracy set up a police outpost in the huge, sprawling hospital premises, in their typical, knee jerk style. This made little sense, as there were several gates which were operational at the time and manned by civic security personnel. Later the police checkpost gave way to a full-fledged police station known as the JJ Marg Police Station.
The JJ Hospital shootout was a watershed moment for Dawood Ibrahim. Before this, he had never been able to proclaim his stake in the city with such impact. Dawood had cemented his reputation from far afield, and with a bang. For this was not merely one gang taking revenge on the other, or extracting its pound of flesh: it was a daring daylight attack on the system itself. The killing and injuring of policemen was unheard of in Mumbai’s chequered mafia history, and it seemed Mumbai was turning into another Sicily.
At the celebratory party, a puffed-up Dawood went about greeting friends and well-wishers who thought they were congratulating Dawood for getting even with his brother-in-law’s killers. Dawood was celebrating on several counts, however. He knew he had not only gotten even with Arun Gawli’s gang, but that he was now calling the shots once again.
‘Sautya
ne achha kaam kiya
[Sautya has done a good job]’, Dawood announced loudly, as the conversation inevitably veered towards the JJ Hospital shootout. Ever since their bloody victory, Dawood had been openly expressing his admiration of Sautya, who had personally led the JJ Hospital shootout. Subhash Singh Thakur, Manish Lala, and Chhota Shakeel, who had also contributed significantly, got equal footage.
One man sat quietly in the midst of all the fuss. By now, everybody knew that for once, the shootout was not the handiwork of Chhota Rajan. Earlier, Dawood would always stake claim for Rajan’s work, giving his stamp of approval. This had suited Rajan perfectly at that time, as he took it as a compliment.
But today Rajan had discreetly withdrawn, preferring to drink alone. He felt humiliated because he had not figured anywhere in this big triumph. When he saw Dawood gushing over the ‘JJ team’, he seethed with frustration. He felt the operation was not a success, in real terms. So much firepower and human resources had been used for the operation and in the end only one gangster, Shailesh Haldankar, had been killed, while Bipin Shere had not been taken down.
Rajan felt it was ironic that his boss was acknowledging the bravery of these stupid men who had, to his mind, botched the entire operation. Rajan drank on, brooding, until he could take it no more and walked out of the party. But he decided to let this one go. He consoled himself with the thought of all those times Dawood had been kind and compassionate to him, lauding his enterprise and giving him unrestricted rights over his business and gang operations. Dawood had never humiliated him, insulted him, or rebuked him in public.
Meanwhile, the JJ Hospital celebration party continued unabated. The shootout was an excuse. Everybody wanted to hitch a ride on the Dawood bandwagon. He was growing bigger and bigger. Some ‘friend’ or ‘well-wisher’ organised a party every second day, as many businessmen had already realised the value of having Dawood Ibrahim as their ally.
Soon, the events of September were forgotten. Months passed and December came around, time for another round of celebrations. Dawood’s sycophants were known to organise several parties to celebrate the don’s birthday on 31 December. Like most dons, Dawood who personally never attached much importance to his birthday, made it a point to see how his friends celebrated his birthday—whether they cared to wish him, send him flowers and gifts, and throw parties. He, of course, never organised any parties. For a don, he was rather shy about celebrations of this nature. But among the mafia, a note is made of all the parties thrown in Big D’s honour. The rival gangs also kept watch over these parties, making notes of those who attended and those who did not. But very rarely would Dawood himself attend other parties.
But even as grand plans to celebrate Dawood’s birthday mounted, another political development which had been brewing for a while culminated in what Indian history was to remember as one of its blackest of black days: a day when India ceased to be an inclusive, pluralistic nation. On 6 December 1992, a mob of Hindu militants tore down a mosque in Ayodhya and in the process rent apart the communal fabric of the country.
On 6 December, a mob of 70, 000 comprising members of right wing political parties and believers converged around the Babri Masjid, a disputed structure since 1853. Hindus believed that this was actually the birthplace of Lord Ram and that a temple had once existed here, later demolished by Mughal emperor Babar’s commander, Mir Baqi. A masjid was built on the spot and it was named Babri Masjid.
After 1983, the Sangh Parivar (the Rashtriya Seva Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad) realised that Ayodhya was a political goldmine. By October 1992, Lal Krishna Advani’s rath yatra (a motorised chariot), which had been mobilising support for the construction of the Ram mandir in the disputed site, had gathered sufficient steam. When it was clear that their plans included the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Advani’s rath yatra was stopped midway in Samastipur in Bihar on 23 October 1992. The next day the Sangh Parivar announced a Bharat Bandh.
Two months later on 6 December 1992, Advani finally reached his target. The
kar sevaks
(volunteer to a religious cause) eventually brought down the structure and the entire world saw the footage of this live on television: the falling domes of the masjid and the
kar sevaks
scrambling to climb atop the masjid and dancing with joy after the demolition. The communal riots post-Babri Masjid demolition left over 2,000 people dead across the country and a legacy of deeply-entrenched communal hatred.
This caused much pain and anguish among Muslims across the country and sparked nationwide communal riots. If northern India was shaken, the tremors were felt as far as Mumbai; Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena owned up to the destruction of the Babri Masjid.
In Mumbai, the riots which were triggered due to the frenzied, impulsive response of the Muslims, caused more loss of lives and property to Muslims than the Hindus. It seemed like the Hindu groups had anticipated the Muslim reaction and were prepared for the onslaught. So when the Muslim youth came out on the streets and started stone pelting and violent protests, the Hindus gave it back to them in full measure. Thus the violence escalated and Mumbai witnessed its worst ever communal carnage.
Muslims in Mumbai became vulnerable in the December-January communal riots after the Babri Masjid demolition. They expected the police force to play a fair and judicious role, but the police were mute spectators as the mob went berserk. Later, the Sri Krishna Commission revealed the unfair and partisan role of the police in the Mumbai riots. When they witnessed the police bias and the government’s callousness in handling the riots, even the most optimistic of Muslims found their belief in a pluralistic, secular India shattered. Even in upmarket areas like Bandra, Muslim homes were marked for an attack with a chalk mark. The general feeling was of insecurity and fear. Muslim youth found that they were not only oppressed by the system, but felt widely alienated and isolated. This feeling generated a widespread antagonism among them and a sub-section began to seek out revenge.
The climate was ripe for Pakistan’s ISI intervention, always awaiting just such an occasion. They saw this as the perfect opportunity to sow the seeds of terrorism in India.
The ISI generals activated all their handlers and gave them instructions to launch a massive attack on India. The brief was clear: unlike the Kashmir operations where they had followed the practice of ‘prick and bleed’, this time it would be a ‘deep incision’ into the psyche of the country.
The lack of effective and charismatic leaders always forced the Muslim youth to choose the wrong role models. They usually made their choices looking for somebody who could buck the system. Earlier they had looked at Haji Mastan as their messiah, who was later replaced by Dawood Ibrahim. Muslims from south Mumbai wanted Dawood, with his mighty arsenal, to settle scores with the Shiv Sena, who had gone on a rampage.
The ISI, meanwhile, called together Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim, Mohammad Dossa, Tiger Memon, Tahir Merchant, and several other Indian Muslim dons based in Dubai and Europe. They managed to bring the rival Indian dons together under the aegis of their operation of ‘tehreeke-inteqaam’ (the initiative of revenge). In fact, this was the first ever ISI operation where help was also sought from further afield; other international terrorist groups, including the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Afghan Mujahideen, and several Dubai-based financiers were enlisted.
Several conspiracy meetings and brainstorming sessions were held across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Karachi, and other cities. The ISI wanted to strike at once so that their planned terrorist attack would be connected to the Babri Masjid demolition. They also wanted to use Mumbai Muslim youth for the task so that the operation could not be traced back to Pakistan.
Tiger Memon and Mohammad Dossa were chosen to spearhead the whole operation. Tiger Memon was a smuggler who was born and bred in Mumbai. His task was to induct Muslim youth from Mumbai, get them to Pakistan, and train them in handling explosives and sophisticated weapons. Memon knew that he would not be able to execute the operation without the blessings of Dawood Ibrahim; at the earlier meetings Dawood had not really promised anything. This resulted in a further flurry of meetings.
Chhota Rajan, who was even otherwise sidelined, was surprised by the number of endless meetings Dawood was attending, with both known and unknown quantities. Rajan brooded over the fact that Dawood remained closeted in meetings for hours. Moreover, Shakeel always attended these meetings but Rajan was never asked to join them in the conference room.
Finally, Dawood acceded to Tiger Memon’s request for logistical support for the operation. A month after the Babri demolition, thirty young Indian men were flown into Pakistan and trained in warfare, using sophisticated guns and making RDX bombs. They were brought to Dubai and sworn to secrecy. All the while they were brainwashed into jihad; they were shown videos of Muslim women gangraped in Surat during the riots in Gujarat. The young men promised to retaliate by launching a massive attack on Mumbai.