Authors: S. Hussain Zaidi
In fact, Dawood’s exact location and whereabouts were not known even to most of the ISI’s top echelon. It was a closely guarded secret, shared only on a need-to-know basis. Dawood’s right-hand man, Chhota Shakeel had set up base in Jeddah, something that the Mumbai Crime Branch already knew. Jeddah, therefore, seemed to be the safest hideout for Dawood.
Within hours of Operation Neptune Spear, the ISI had everything ready. A passport was prepared for Dawood, and an entire escort of Pakistani Rangers were deputed. Their orders: guard Dawood with your life. Air routes were out of the question, as the CIA was watching every single airport, and nothing would escape them. However well they planned, trying to board a flight out of Karachi would be suicidal both for Dawood and for the ISI, especially on such short notice.
It was decided to take the road route. On the night of 2 May, a cohort of Pakistani Rangers arrived at Dawood’s villa in armoured vehicles, on orders to escort Dawood out of the country in top secrecy.
Throughout the day, Dawood had received a flurry of calls from top men in the ISI and the Pakistani government. Interestingly, they all spoke chaste Urdu but betrayed varying accents, from Lahori Punjabi to Karachi Sindhi to the polished and suave sophisticated Urdu. But there was one thing in common in all the calls—all of them expressed the desperate urgency that Dawood be moved to a safer hideout without delay.
As Dawood stood in front of the mirror, he saw a man with a dark complexion, fast receding hairline, a hint of gray on his eyebrow, and a hardened, ruthless face staring back. The man, who was codenamed as ‘Muchchad’ (moustachioed man) by his enemies, is better known as Amir Sahab these days. The only thing he still carried with him through the years was the pair of pensive eyes.
Although his mind was in turmoil, he revealed no signs of stress or pressure, exuding instead a serene calmness. It was completely at odds with his highly strung aides around him, whose faces were creased with worry and anxiety.
He gave one last long look at the man in the mirror in the impeccable suit, before striding out to the portico of his palatial mansion towards his spanking new golden BMW X3. The car, recently imported, with Dawood’s finance managers having had to shell out over a crore in Pakistani rupees, was among the don’s latest acquisitions. He still loved fancy cars and fast women.
As he walked towards his car, he was assailed by a feeling of déjà vu. Memories kept coming back to him, flashbacks, and he tried to ignore them. Exactly twenty-seven years ago, Dawood had escaped from Mumbai. Now, he was making an exit from Karachi, a port city and financial hub of Pakistan. Then a call from Mantralaya, the seat of the Maharashtra government, had alerted him just in time and warned him to relocate from Mumbai. This time, the call came from Islamabad from an aide of Shuja Pasha, the epicentre of power in Pakistan. When he had left Mumbai, he was grieving the loss of his brother Sabir; this time, the wound of losing his brother Noorul Haque alias Noora was still fresh.
As the door of the luxury sedan was held open by an agile, gun-toting Pakistan Ranger, Dawood threw a longing glance back at his mansion. He then sank into the rear seat. Immediately, the convoy drove out, armoured cars in front of and behind the bulletproof BMW.
But there was something different this time. When he had left Mumbai, he had known that he would never be able to return to India. But Karachi was different, it had become almost routine for him to leave Karachi for a while when things became a little too hot to handle, and then return when the dust had settled.
The car flanked by several military vehicles and Pakistani Rangers hit the Karachi National Highway. The world’s second most wanted man, after Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman was on his way out of Pakistan, en route to Jeddah.
But Dawood was not too worried. He would be back soon.
And as anticipated, he was back indeed, within a few months. It took just over three months for the US heat to blow over, and the world had accepted the US’s operation to kill Bin Laden; Pakistan’s outrage had become old news.
So in September, Dawood was back in Karachi to celebrate and host his eldest son Moin’s wedding to a London girl. On 28 September, his son’s palatial bungalow, named Moin Villa after him, was filled with all the powerful people affiliated to the don, from politicians and businessmen to those at the highest levels of the ISI. The wedding itself was an extravaganza in pomp and grandeur, underlining Dawood’s power and unwavering presence in his adoptive country.
The don was back on the throne.
Sources
M
ost of the information in the book about the history of crime in Mumbai has been primarily sourced from former Mumbai Police Commissioner Mahesh Narain Singh’s compilation, ‘The Growth of Gangsterism in the City’. Singh had compiled it when he was the joint commissioner of police, crime, between 1993 and 1995. The book was written for the police department so that the policemen could get an orientation about organised crime in the city.
Veteran crime reporter and author Sharafat Khan’s self-published book
Underworld King Dawood Ibrahim and Gang War
written in Urdu was another important source of information.
Text regarding gangland killings and shootouts was procured extensively from the dossiers prepared by the Mumbai Crime Branch.
The article entitled ‘Manya Shot Dead’ (dated 23 January 1982) in the tabloid
Current
and my interview with Assistant Commissioner of Police Ishaq Bagwan formed the base for information about Manya Surve’s killing.
The details about the tussle between the Pathan mafia and Dawood Ibrahim and insights into the lives of Haji Mastan and Karim Lala were obtained from the cover story entitled ‘The Clan, Bombay’s Brotherhood of Crime’ of
The Illustrated Weekly of India
(April 14–20, 1985) written by Amrita Shah. Several editions (from 1980 to 1995) of the now defunct Urdu weekly
Akhbare Aalam
were also consulted with the consent of Mr Khaleel Zahid, the editor and publisher.
Information about Dawood Ibrahim and his empire in Dubai and Pakistan was mostly culled from several dossiers prepared by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) and Interpol.
The book,
The Mumbai Police
by Deepak Rao has also been a valuable source of information.
Index
9/11 attacks in US, 300-307; repercussions for Dawood, 301; fallout of, 305
Abu Salem (Abu Salem Ansari), xv, xvi, xx, 254, 256, 266, 268, 270, 308, 331, 368; landed in Dubai, 254, 255; and Anees, 254-257, 308; collaboration with Anees, 254, 256, 257; Mumbai’s most narcissistic gangster, 255; family background of, 256; delivered guns to Sanjay Dutt, 256-257; extortion of business community, 258; import of sharpshooters from his hometown, 254, 258, 259; planned murders of: Pradeep Jain, 259; and Omprakash Kukreja, 259-260, 263; and Riyaz Siddiqui, 263; and Mukesh Duggal, 263; Gulshan Kumar, 265-266; parted ways with Anees, 308, 345; and Monica Bedi, 331-333, 345-346; in Lisbon, 332; arrested in Lisbon, 333, 345; relationship with Monica Bedi deteriorated, 346; extradition to India, 333, 346; in Arthur Road Jail, 347; sharpened spoon attack on, 347
Advani, L. K., 226, 266, 316, 341, 342, 343; and his Rath Yatra, 226; parlaying for Dawood’s extradition to India, 341; and his US visit, 342
Agra Summit, 302, 343; and Dawood shifted from Pakistan, 302
Aguiar, Aloysius Stanislaus (Judge), 277; head of encounters probe committee, 277; and his report, 277
Al-Zawahiri, Ayman, 306
Al Qaeda, 300, 303, 305-307, 340-42, 353, 354, 358; attacks in United States, 300; Dawood’s contacts with, 303, 306, 307, 354
Alam, Mushir, 139-144; a Bollywood mogul, 139; day-light abduction of, 139-140; demand of
pacchis lakh
made, 141; ransom paid, 141, released, 141
Alamzeb, 74, 75, 79, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 109, 121, 125, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 149, 153, 154, 158, 167; in Pathan syndicate, 75, 102, violated holy pact, 109; involvement in the murder of Sabir, 121, 125, 142; involvement in abduction of Mushir, 139-141; and released Mushir, 141; police raid on his office, 144; and arrest of father Jangrez Khan, 144-145; arrested, 145; hired Kunju for Rajan Nair’s killing, 154
Amirzada, 74, 75, 79, 81, 102, 103, 106, 107, 109, 120, 121, 125, 126, 139, 141, 142, 144-145, 149-154, 158, 160, 167; a Pathan gangster, 75, 102, 106; Natiq’s humiliation in this office, 81; at Mastans, meeting, 103-104; friendship with Nanda, 120; and keep tabs on Sabir’s movements, 120; involved in Sabir’s killing, 120-122, 125, 142; arrested, 126; role in Mushir’s abduction, 141; arrested in Mushir’s abduction case, 145; Dawood’s plan to shoot him in the court, 149-151; murdered, 151, 153, 154, 160; role of Bada Rajan in killing of, 158, 160
Amolik, Emmanuel, 194-195
Anees Bhai (Anees Ibrahim Kaskar), xv, 50, 53, 102, 125, 187, 223, 227, 253-258, 273, 303, 308, 309, 319-322, 332-334, 342, 343, 345, 347; Dawood’s brother, 102; joined Dawood in Dubai, 187; dislike for Shakeel, 253; collaboration with Abu Salem, , 254, 256-258, 273, 308-309; Pakistani passports to, 303; parted ways with Salem, 308-309; gutkha making deal with Joshi, 320; launched Fire brand gutkha in Pakistan, 319-320; red corner notice against, 321; apparent closeness with Nagma, 322; arrested in Dubai, 342
Angadias
, 66
Ali Bhai (Ali Abdulla Antulay), 53, 151, 168, 187
Ayubi, Sayyed Sultan, 66-67; as Mr Bombay, 67; in Dawood’s gang, 66, 67
Baashu Dada (Ahmed Khan), xii, xxi, 41-46, 51, 55-64, 66, 67, 75, 79-80, 84, 107, 117, 124, 136, 218, 370; push-up challenge to Khalid and Raheem, 42-43; Teli Mohalla headquarters of, 43, 55; top smugglers of his time, 43; face raids on, 43; early days of, 43-44; working with Rahim Bhai, 45-46;
baithaks
of, 55; humiliated Sabir, 60-61; Dawood vowed to finish him, 60; Dawood’s attack on, 62-64; destruction of his
akhada
, 63-64; detention under NSA, 64; end to the reign of, 64
Baatla, Saeed, 85-86; Dawood’s attack on, 86-87; jailed, 87
Baba Bahauddin dargah, 250
Babri Masjid demolition, xix, xx, 225-227, 241, 251, 340; communal riots after, 226, 227, 241, 251
Babu Reshim (Babu Gopal Reshim), 93-95, 137, 196-203, 206; leader of Mazagon docks’ canteen workers, 94, 95; B.R.A. Company’s don, 95, 137; molested a Kanjari girl, 197-198; slapped by Vijay Utekar, 197; Vijay Utekar’s vow to kill, 197; attacked, 198; imprisoned at the Jacob Circle lock-up, 198-199; killed by Vijay Utekar in lock-up, 197-198, 202
Bada Rajan (Rajan Nair), 126, 137, 146-149, 153-157, 159; a typewriter thief, 146-149; creation of Golden Gang, 147; meeting with Dawood, 146-147; killed, 156, 157
Bagwan, Ishaq, 131-133, 142-144, 151-152, 276, 364, 370; killed Manya, 133, 276; president’s police medal awarded to, 133; investigation of Mushir kidnapping, 143; arrested Pardesi, 152
Bakhiya, Sukur Narayan, 19, 27, 45, 368; biggest smuggler in Gujarat, 19; coordination with Mastan, 19
Bal Thackeray, 116, 226, 231, 241, 268, 271, 285, 286; calling Dawood a ‘deshdroshi’, 231; Rajan’s challenge to, 241; and murder of his
manasputra
Jayant Jadhav, 286
Bedi, Monica, 331-333, 345-346, Abu Salem’s paramour, 331; in Lisbon, 332-333; arrested, 333, 345; extradited to India, 346
Bharat Shah murder case, 283-284, 286, 288, 310
Bin Laden, Osama, 339, 342, 348, 353, 358-360; and Ibrahim’s syndicate, 306, 307, 342, 348; rank in Forbes list, 353; hiding place of, 358; killing of, 359-361
Boucher, Richard, 348-352; transcript of the discussion with, 349-352
Bout, Viktor, 180, 186
BRA Company, 95, 137, 191, 196, 203; formation of, 95; members of, 95, 137
Bukhari, Maulana Zia-ud-din, 56, 57, 61
Bush, George, 305, 340, 342, 354
Buwa, Dilip, 210-212
Carnac Bunder robbery, 67-69
Chhota Rajan (Rajendra Nikhalje,), xv, xvi, xx, 100, 137, 148, 157-161, 168, 187, 189, 198-199, 205, 215-216, 224, 228, 230, 231, 241, 250, 280, 289, 294, 295, 326, 327, 332, 368; a black marketer, 157; joined Bada Rajan gang, 158; hunt for Kunju, 258; joined Dawood’s gang, 160; killed Kunju, 160; as a manager in D Company, 160, 215-218; support to Vijay, 199; role in Ashok Joshi’s killing, 205; and ill-feelings in gang for, 243; escape from Dubai, 245-246, 248; moved to Kuala Lumpur, 250; in Southeast Asian countries, 289-290; in Bangkok, 290-291; Shakeel’s plan to kill, 291-292; assault on, 292-295; escape from, 296; proposal for extradition from Bangkok, 296
Chhota Shakeel, xvi, 138, 187, 188, 205, 217-220, 224, 228, 242-244, 248, 250-255, 257, 263, 280, 283, 288, 289-295, 303, 308-316, 344, 361; Dawood’s Man Friday, xxi; joined Dawood in Dubai, 188; differences with Chhota Rajan, 243; new CEO of D-Gang, 250-254; cultivating young Muslim boys as sharpshooters, 251-253; role in the killing Ramdas Nayak, 252; ordered killing of Bharat Shah, 285-287; planned to kill Rajan in Bangkok, 291; relocated in Pakistan, 303-304; produced
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke
, 308-317; ordered attack on Rakesh Roshan, 315; Pakistani citizenship to, 344; as Haji Mohammad in Pakistan, 344; set up base in Jeddah, 361
Congress House, 118-121; disintegration in(to) a whorehouse, 118