#Bombayphile - Company of Woman : David Headley's Secret Girlfriend

Have you watched Ram Gopal Verma's 1998 movie Satya? Urmila Matondar plays the role of Singer Vidya, who is jolted when she learns that Satya, whom she loved, was a wanted gangster. Just before the cops shoot him dead, Satya attempts to meet Vidya one last time. However, a terrified Vidya refuses to open the door. A similar story unfolded in real life, linked to the 26/11 attacks. The only difference is that in the movie, Satya truly loves Vidya, but in the real-life story, the man uses the lady for his diabolical designs.

In 2009, the FBI nets a Pakistani-American named David Headley at the Chicago airport. His interrogation reveals chilling information about the Mumbai attacks. The Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar e Toiyba had tasked Headley with reconnaissance of potential targets in Mumbai, taking their pictures, and recording GPS coordinates. Headley performed his job diligently, traveling to Mumbai seven times between 2007-08. In Mumbai, he befriended a few people, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul and his gym instructor Vilas Varak. Headley hung around with them, gathering information about the targeted locations. However, not many know that he had another friend in the city - a beautiful businesswoman.

Headley chose to scout for targets in south Mumbai and rented a room in Hotel Outram near the CSMT railway station. He often visited Colaba's Nariman House, housing a Jewish cultural center, to understand the area's topography and security arrangements. With a sweet tooth for pastries, he bought them from a small cake shop close to the Jewish center while returning. The bakery, run by a beautiful lady in her late twenties, became familiar to Headley in two to three visits. The lady fell for the tall, fair, and chivalrous man with an amazing sense of humor. They soon started dating.

Whenever Headley scouted for targets in the city, he took her along. From Leopold Cafe to the various restaurants of Hotel Taj Mahal and Hotel Trident, the lady accompanied him, and he took pictures and GPS coordinates of the places he visited. All the while, the lady was unaware of Headley's evil intentions. She started envisioning Headley as her life partner. The company of a woman while visiting potential targets helped Headley preempt any suspicion from security agencies, as he was passed off as a tourist. The Lashkar planned attacks at most of the places that Headley marked.

After Headley’s arrest, US investigators came across the lady’s name and passed it on to their counterparts in Mumbai. The crime branch of Mumbai Police summoned her, and they recorded her statement. The cops didn’t arrest her since she had no knowledge of the conspiracy. She left India for a brief period after the interrogation. Headley agreed to become an approver and deposed before a special court in Mumbai via video connection from the US jail where he is lodged.

In the annals of espionage, David Headley's secret girlfriend in Mumbai becomes a tragic character, entwined in a narrative of betrayal and manipulation. Her unwitting role in the sinister plot serves as a stark reminder that reality, at times, can be more chilling than fiction.

#Bombayphile : The Heroes of 26/11 Are Waiting For Government To Fulfill This 3 Year Old Promise!

My friend Hemant Bavdhankar retired as a Senior Inspector of the Mumbai Police last year. He could have retired as an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) had the Maharashtra government kept its promise. Bavdhankar was no ordinary cop. Out of the ten Pakistani terrorists that stormed Mumbai on 26-11-2008, eight were killed by the National Security Guards (NSG). Out of the remaining two, Abu Ismail was shot dead by Bavdhankar and Kasab was arrested alive by the team he was part of. He was promised “One-Step-Promotion” as a reward by the government, which he never got.

It is not news that politicians are averse to fulfilling the promises they make. The election manifestos of political parties are solely intended to appeal to the voters and get hold of power. However, making false promises to voters is different from making certain announcements for the people of the armed forces, and not implementing them. The brave hearts of the Mumbai Police, like Bavdhankar, find themselves as victims of such political propaganda. These are the personnel of the Mumbai Police who have been awaiting their “One-Step-Promotion” for the last three years.

During the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai, out of ten Pakistani terrorists, only one was caught alive. After snatching a Skoda car from a hotelier at Nariman Point, terrorist Ajmal Kasab and his accomplice Abu Ismail headed towards Girgaon Chowpatty on the Marine Drive. An alert was sounded against them and all the police stations across the city were asked to barricade roads and conduct Nakabandis. Accordingly, a team from the D.B.Marg police station barricaded the Cafe Ideal junction at Girgaon Chowpatty. When the duo was confronted by the police team at the junction, they tried to take a U-turn and escape. However, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Ombale, who was following them from the Nariman Point on his motorcycle, seized the opportunity when the car slowed down due to barricading. Ismail was in the driving seat while Kasab was sitting next to him. Omble pounced on Kasab and grabbed his neck. However, Kasab, who was holding a Kalashnikov, fired and Ombale was killed instantly. Another Inspector named Sanjay Govilkar was injured. But the police team too retaliated with the bullets and Inspector Hemant Bavdhankar shot on the forehead of Ismail. As soon as Ismail was killed, police constables disarmed Kasab and were about to lynch him, but the officers present realised that Kasab should be caught alive to unearth the whole conspiracy.

Getting Kasab alive indeed opened an information goldmine on the very night of the attacks. His interrogation vividly revealed that the conspiracy to attack Mumbai was hatched by terrorist organisations based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The ten terrorists were sent via the sea route from Karachi. Had Kasab not been nabbed alive, it would have been tough for the Indian agencies to establish the role of Pakistan in the attacks. In March 2020, during the Budget Session of the Maharashtra Legislature, Anil Deshmukh, then Home Minister, appreciated the display of bravery and alertness of the D.B.Marg police team. He enthusiastically announced that the state government would give “One-Step-Promotion” to all the fourteen police personnel who participated in the Girgaon Chowpatty encounter.

The policemen, who were already being lauded as heroes, were delighted with this gesture of the government. If cops get a one step promotion in the organization, it means that a Sub-Inspector would become a Police Inspector, an Inspector would become a Senior Inspector and a Senior Inspector would become an Assistant Police Commissioner. It implies that they would get better pay and perks. However, even after three years of the announcement, the cops are still waiting for their promised promotion. Anil Deshmukh remained Home Minister for around a year after making the announcement, before going to jail in a money laundering case. However, he did nothing during this period to implement what he promised. The media and the concerned police personnel followed up on the matter with Deshmukh’s successor, Dilip Walse Patil, but in vain. There has been no word from Uddhav Thackeray as well during whose chief ministership such a promise was made. As per the principle of “collective responsibility,” it was Uddhav Thackeray’s duty to ensure the implementation of the announcement.

Many, like Hemant Bavdhankar, have retired since the time the announcement was made, while a few are still hopeful. Last year saw a change in the government, with Eknath Shinde swearing in as the Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis becoming the Home Minister. Will they take cognisance of the matter and prevent the hopefuls of promised “One-Step-Promotion,” from feeling that they have been joked upon?

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and the present of Mumbai.)   

Mumbai Police Don’t Want To Be Moral Police!

 

On Friday, the Mumbai Police slapped a criminal case on Urfi Javed, a model known for her quirky outfits and idiosyncratic style, and charged her with impersonation, cheating and defamation. Urfi has been posting pictures and videos donning the other-worldly attires and this has earned her a celebrity status. However, her antiques landed her in trouble when last week she played a prank that offended the men in uniform. With three actors who posed as cops, Urfi staged her “arrest” outside a coffee shop in Oshiwara. In the video, the cops were seen pushing her into an SUV and scolding her for wearing an “obscene” dress, which was a red-coloured sleeveless and backless top. Initially, when the video went viral, people thought that she had been really arrested. However, when the top police officers were deluged with calls from the crime reporters, they clarified that they hadn’t arrested Urfi. The cops swung into action and booked Urfi and the three actors. One male actor, who posed as an Inspector was arrested and the vehicle used in the video was seized.

What prompted the Mumbai Police to act swiftly in the case was the fear of being blamed of moral policing. It is not the business of the police to determine what the citizens should wear and what constitutes obscenity. Such a prank by Urfi had the potential to dent the reputation of a police force which is responsible for maintaining law and order in India’s most modern and cosmopolitan city. It is good to know that the Mumbai Police cares for its reputation and doesn’t want to be seen as a moral police. However, there have been numerous instances in the past where it has been established that the force indeed has been indulging in moral policing.

I remember a case in 2015 when the Mumbai Police raided several hotels in the Madh and Aksa areas of the city. Around 60 adult youngsters were caught on charges of indecent behaviour and booked under section 110 of the Bombay Police Act.  Among the arrested were 13 couples. The raids were conducted in the afternoon and the policemen knocked on the doors of the rooms occupied by the couples and pulled them out. Their parents were called to the police station.  The matter was brought before the Bombay High Court and the judges came down heavily upon the police. After the strictures from the court, Rakesh Maria, then Mumbai Police Commissioner, issued an instruction that the policemen must refrain from moral policing.

The case of dance bars is another example of the uniformed men’s tendency to moral police. Although the dance bars, which were an inherent part of Mumbai’s nightlife, were banned in 2005, the legal battle fought by the bar owners led to the rejection of the ban by the Bombay High Court and then the Supreme Court. However, the Mumbai Police always found ways to circumvent the court orders and issued a strict set of rules that disallowed them to run the bars in the traditional forms. In a way, a section of the police was against the ban due to the “advantages” they derived from the bars, however, it was primarily the policy of the state government which they had to enforce.

Moral policing is still practiced in Mumbai and many couples in love and courtship get a taste of it when they go to some secluded place for privacy and get caught. Apart from the police, political parties have also indulged in moral policing. There was a time when Shiv Sainiks raided pubs and discotheques on 14 February where Valentine’s Day celebrations were organised. They destroyed any red heart-shaped artwork and threatened greeting card sellers. All this was done in the name of preserving the Indian culture and combatting the influence of Western culture on the youngsters. Such acts of moral policing have presented a paradoxical image of Mumbai.

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and present of Mumbai.)  

#Bombayphile : Mumbai Has Become A Gas Chamber! Who Is City's Hitler?

 

Last week brought dreadful news for Mumbaikars. The pollution level of the city has surpassed Delhi. Mumbai’s Air Quality Index (AQI) has reached alarming levels. The city has become a gas chamber with many Mumbaikars dying untimely deaths by breathing the poisonous air. So, who is the Hitler who transformed the city into a gas chamber? There are many Hilter in Mumbai, not one.

Every year, we see news on TV about how polluted the air of Delhi becomes in winter. The TV channels devote a good amount of airtime, showing the plight of Delhi citizens who suffer from breathing issues. The farmers of neighbouring Haryana are blamed for contributing to the pollution by burning parali. Several squads have been formed to check such activity. In the past, the courts have come down heavily upon the central and the state governments over their inefficiency in controlling the pollution. Some measures like even number-odd number plying of vehicles on alternate days was adopted. Mumbaikars felt blessed by seeing all this, and were happy that they were breathing relatively cleaner air.

Mumbai is witnessing a large scale construction activity these years. It seems that every new skyscraper is trying to dwarf the previous ones. As per a conservative estimate, there are around 600 under-construction buildings in Mumbai which emit dust that contributes to the polluted air. Apart from the private constructions, large-scale infrastructure projects undertaken by the governmental agencies are another source of pollutants. Presently, around six metro lines and a few flyovers are being built in and around Mumbai. Supporters of the infrastructure development contend that availability of public transport would reduce pollution in the long run. Several industries like Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers (RCF) and petrochemical refineries in the north-eastern part of Mumbai have been perennial contributors to the city’s pollution. When these industrial units were set up several decades ago, they were away from the residential parts of Mumbai. With the rapid growth of the city, these units are now surrounded by residential buildings and their dwellers have no choice but to inhale the dark smoke 24/7.

On the one hand, Mumbai’s air is being polluted by multiple sources and on the other hand, the green cover of Mumbai is dwindling. There was a huge uproar over cutting of trees in the Aarey forest for a metro train depot, and destruction of mangroves for construction of the Navi Mumbai airport and the trans-harbour link. Three years back, I did an investigative story that revealed how slum mafia in the Aarey forest was clandestinely burning the green patches to raise huts there. Mumbai is blessed to be located on the coast of Arabian Sea. The breeze coming from the sea has helped in maintaining the city’s air breathable to a large extent, as it blows away the pollutants. However, due to the climate change, this advantage of Mumbai is deteriorating and the winds are getting weaker due to meteorological reasons. Environmentalists metaphorically point out that the lungs of Mumbai have become sick.  

As a knee-jerk reaction, the BMC has come up with certain guidelines to mitigate the pollution arising out of the construction activities and diesel vehicles. However, it is going to take much more than legislations and administrative efforts to contain pollution. Every Mumbaikar has to think of ways to reduce his carbon footprints and using public transport, avoiding usage of air-conditioners are a few examples. Diwali is around the corner and we can celebrate it by using crackers that emit less smoke and sound. If our lungs are healthy, we can celebrate many more Diwalis.

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and present of Mumbai.)

 

#Bombayphile Why Mumbai Reacts Aggressively To Global Events?

 

Last week, the Mumbai Police arrested four people for sticking flags of Israel on the roads of Bhendi Bazaar, so that people could put their feet on it. It was their way of protesting against the Israeli response to the terrorist attack engineered by Hamas. This is another example of how a section of the Muslim community has been reacting aggressively to the events happening in other parts of the globe. Although there have been reactions across the world since the Hamas attack on Israel two weeks back, and people support one side or the other, this piece specifically delves into the reactions of Mumbai Muslims to global events. In the last 30 years, I have seen around half a dozen protests where the trigger was not in Mumbai.

Author Salman Rushdie wrote his controversial book ‘The Satanic Verses’ in Britain, it was banned by the Supreme Leader of Iran and Fatwa was issued against Rushdie, but the riots happened in Mumbai, which is thousands of kilometres away from both countries. In February 1989, several Muslim organisations of Mumbai came together to protest outside the British mission’s office. The police restrained them at the Mohammed Ali Road, triggering a riot. Twelve people were killed in the police firing that afternoon.

On 6 December 1992, the Babri mosque was demolished in Ayodhya, which led to communal flare-ups in many parts of India. However, the worst riots happened in Mumbai, 1500 kilometres away from Ayodhya. The riots that took place in the two phases and subsequent serial bombings in the city led to the killings of over one thousand people.

In 2006, a few Muslim organisations came together to organize a protest meeting at Azad Maidan against the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, to protest against the publication of the Prophet’s cartoon. The crowd soon went out of control of its leaders. Some vehicles were damaged and a few journalists were manhandled. However, the frenzy was soon contained by the police.

The cops were not that fortunate in 2012 when a meeting was called to protest against the atrocities against Rohingyas in Myanmar on the same ground. As soon as the meeting ended, the crowd turned violent and attacked the cops and media personnel. Several police vehicles and OB vans of the news channels were torched. The rioters desecrated a memorial of martyrs. The police had to fire at the violent mob.

When I went to delve into the reasons for the reaction of Mumbai Muslims to events outside the city or the country, I found that it has been a historical trait of the community. The Khilafat movement of 1919 is one such example when two well-educated Muslim brothers, Maulana Mohammed Ali, and Maulana Shaukat Ali, formed a Khilafat Committee in Bombay to protest against the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate after the Turkish Empire was dissolved post-First World War. Mahatma Gandhi supported the movement and saw it as an opportunity for Hindu-Muslim unity.

After speaking to some intellectuals from the community, I got a few answers to my quest. A primary reason for the protest against something that has happened in another country is the sense of global-Muslim-brotherhood. Secondly, Mumbai being a cosmopolitan and modern city, the Muslims here keep themselves abreast of the happenings across the world. There are a few religious organisations that keep track of such events and mobilise the Muslim youths whenever anything against the perceived interest of Muslims happens.

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and the present of Mumbai.)

#Bombayphile - Mumbai's Over 300 Years Old Connection with Israel.

 

My school was in the Samuel Street of Masjid Bunder in Mumbai. As a student, I never bothered to find out who Samuel was and why the street was named on him. I assumed that he might be some bigshot from the colonial era. It was around twenty-five years later, after passing out from the school, that I delved into the history of Samuel Street while researching for my first novel “Bombay 3”. I came across a very interesting story which tells Mumbai’s relation with the Israeli’s.

The local train travellers on the Central Railway know that the first station after the train originates from CSMT is Masjid. The word Masjid in Urdu translates into mosque, but in reality, the station is not named after any mosque, but after a synagogue, a Jewish place of worship. Hardly after a two minutes’ walk from the station, one reaches a yellow-coloured structure named “Gate of Mercy.” There is a history of why the synagogue has been so named.

Two Bene-Israelis named Samuel Ezekeil and Isaac Ezekeil were soldiers of the British East India Company. In the Mysore war, they were captured by Tipu Sultan’s army and were sentenced to death. Before executing them, Tipu asked to which caste they belonged. When the duo told that they were Bene-Israelis, Tipu’s mother intervened and asked Tipu to forgive them as she had read about the community in the Holy Quran. Tipu then entered into a prisoner swap deal with the Britishers and returned them.

Bene-Israelis came from the middle-east several centuries ago and landed at Alibag on the Konkan coastline. They follow Judaism. Although they follow the religious texts and practices, Bene-Israelis have also adopted Maharashtrian customs, traditions and attires. Many use the place of their dwelling as their surname, like Ramrajkar, Bamnolkar, Divekar and so on.

After returning to Bombay, they established a synagogue in 1796 to express their gratitude to God. It is the oldest synagogue in India.Initially the location was somewhere near today’s CSMT railway station, but in 1860, it was shifted to the present one. The locals mistook it be a mosque and started calling it “Juni Masjid”. The area is called Masjid Bunder due to its proximity to the port. In Marathi ‘Bunder’ means port.

The street was named as Samuel Street in his remembrance. It is hardly 200 metres away from my school’s building. Adjacent to the Samuel Street is Israel Mohalla where several Jew families lived once. Later on, members of the Pathan gang started living there. Few years back, an aspiring drug mafia was apprehended from the area by the Narcotics Control Bureau. The Gate of Mercy Synagogue is still active, although the turnout of faithful remains low. Most of the Bene-Israelis have shifted to adjacent cities, like Thane and Navi Mumbai.

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and the present of Mumbai.)

PS: The Masjid Bunder are mentioned in this blog is a very interesting place with a unique character within the city of Mumbai. Those who are eager to know more must read my books “Bombay 3” and “Bombay After Ayodhya”.

 

#Bombayphile How Prepared Is Mumbai To Prevent Hamas Like Terror Attack?

Some people may find it absurd to compare Mumbai with Tel Aviv in the context of terrorism. The biggest terrorist attack on Israel was from all fronts: air, sea and land. Over 5,000 rockets were launched to target buildings in Israel and the terrorists used paragliders to land at public places and massacre people. Hundreds of Israelis were abducted on gunpoint. Although Mumbai has endured some of the biggest terrorist attacks in India, none of them have been of this magnitude. However, Mumbai continues to be on the radar of terrorists and one question that comes to my mind is, how safe is Mumbai from Hamas like attack?

From 11 March 1993 to 11 July 2011, Mumbai has witnessed over 10 terrorist incidents in which around 700 people have been killed and over two thousand have been injured. The attack on 26 November 2008 was the last big terror attack on Mumbai, not in terms of the number of people killed, but, due to the multiplicity of the locations and the number of hours it stretched. There are some parallels between the attack on Israel and Mumbai. After the terrorist attack at Kalbadevi on 14 September 1946, it was the first attack where the gunmen landed at public places and indiscriminately shot people. In the 26/11 attacks, the terrorists had captured two seven star hotels, attacked Mumbai’s prime railway station and a hospital. The Jewish cultural centre at Colaba was also one of the targeted locations. They planted bombs in two taxis which exploded at Wadi Bunder and Juhu. There were hostage situations at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Trident Hotel, and Nariman House. At Trident and Nariman House, most of the hostages were killed. It took 59 hours for the National Security Guard (NSG) to clear all the locations by eliminating the infiltrators, but not before the Chief of Anti-Terrorist Squad, two commandos and many policemen were slain.

Just like Mossad is being held responsible for intelligence failure, the Indian security establishment too failed in preempting the attacks, although they had got a whiff that Pakistan-based terrorists are planning to infiltrate via the sea route. There were few intelligence reports sent to the Mumbai Police alerting about the imminent attacks. The attacks also posed a question about the efficiency to the coastal security agencies. Undoubtedly, it was a warlike situation and neither the intelligence agencies nor the Mumbai Police anticipated the level of attacks. But the concern now is whether the security apparatus is prepared to deal with another 26/11 type attack or the one orchestrated by Hamas in Isreal, which is much bigger in magnitude. I have covered those attacks on ground and have followed the aftermath. During the last fifteen years, I have reported several times on the Mumbai's vulnerability to terrorist attacks. I still find the city vulnerable and its counter-terror preparedness is down at an alarming level.

A few years back, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had published a damning report on Mumbai’s coastal security. After the attacks, as a knee-jerk reaction, the state government spent millions of rupees in procuring speed boats, jet ski and amphibian vehicles for the coastal security. However, within a few years, most of them were defunct due to lack of maintenance and unavailability of replacement for the malfunctioning parts. The adequate supply of diesel was another issue. Once a policeman deployed on a patrolling boat fell into the sea and was drowned. It was revealed that most of the cops on duty in the coastal security units weren’t skilled in swimming. However, evening boat parties at the Gateway of India have been restricted due to the “terror threat”. Today, at most of the railway stations, one can see door-frame-metal-detectors and X-Ray machines to check luggage, but there aren’t enough personnel to man them. Most of the measures taken up in the name of security after 26/11 have sadly been eye wash.  

After the 26/11 attacks, the Ram Pradhan Committee was set up to investigate the attack and to suggest measures to tighten up the security. However, nothing concrete has been done on their recommendations. The only positive development that I could see is that Mumbai now has three kinds of commando forces deployed in the city. First is the QRT (Quick Response Team) of Mumbai Police, the second is the Force One of the state police and the third is NSG, which has opened a regional headquarter in Mumbai. In case of a terror attack, the QRT would be the first responder. However, these commando forces would be required only when an attack happens, but what has been done to preempt another attack? Obviously, everything couldn’t be revealed for public consumption. I trust that the intelligence and security agencies have learnt their lessons and Mumbai is safe from evil eyes.

(Bombayphile is published every week where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and the present of Mumbai.)