#Bombayphile : That Dark August In The History of Mumbai Police

Mumbai Police is one of the most disciplined, professional and formidable internal security organisations in the world. There was a time when its pace of detecting crimes was compared with the Metropolitan Police of London. However, there have been a few dark pages in its glorious history. One such chapter is of the police rebellion that happened forty-one years ago.

What happened on 19 August 1982 was narrated to me by Baban Jadhav. He is one of those numbered policemen who participated in the rebellion and are still alive. Jadhav became my friend in 2003 when I was covering a proceeding at the Kurla court where few members of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were being produced after the organisation was banned. Jadhav was the in-charge of the security of the court premises. Recently, I met him after many years at his residence in Thane.

“They put me in jail on the occasion of the Ganpati festival. Even if I was guilty, why my family members were thrown out of our governmental accommodation? Why cases were filed against them? Dawood is such a big criminal but were his relatives punished for his crimes?...but for me, a policeman, the punishment was meted out to my family members. My daughter was just three months old. My mother was seventy years old, but they were thrown out of the house.” Jadhav’s eyes were full of rage when he recollected the events of 19 August , 1982.

During those days, the policemen had a union named “Mumbai Police Karmachari Sanghatana” of which Jadhav was a member.

“Why did that rebellion happened?” I asked Jadhav.

“Don’t call it a rebellion. It was our agitation. We wanted to do our duty respectfully, but we were being treated as slaves at the homes of IPS officers. We were asked to run errands, walk dogs and clean their utensils. Is this the job of a policeman? We were not allowed to take leave. Our salaries were very low. There was a conspiracy to snatch away our official quarters and give the land away to a builder. Because of all these reasons, we had to resort to agitation.”

The indications of the unrest in the force were visible on 15th August that year when many policemen reported to the duty displaying black ribbon on their uniform. It has been reported that out of the total strength of 22,000 cops, 9500 participated in the rebellion. On the day when rebellion broke out, there were incidents of stone-peltings at several places, motormen driving the local trains were pulled out of their cabins. As train services were disrupted, furious commuters went on rampage at various stations. The mill workers also joined the agitation of the policemen, who too were on a strike since last seven months.

Knowing that the police were on strike, criminal elements had a gala time. They fearlessly started looting. The Century Bazaar at Worli had to endure maximum damage. The worts violence happened at Worli Naka. To contain the violent mob, the army had to fire in which two mill workers and a policeman died. A youngster died in the Naigaon area. Julio Ribeiro was the police commissioner of Mumbai then. In his autobiography, he has detailed how the rebellion was dealt with. Apart from requisitioning the army, help was taken from the loyal policemen. Twenty-two leaders of the police union were arrested and ninety policemen were dismissed from the service. The police union was banned and the formation of any such union in the future was made illegal.

Although certain demands of the agitating policemen were legitimate, many leaders of the police union too went to extremes. They misbehaved with senior police officers and had scuffles with them. They indulged in indiscipline and didn’t wear the police uniform. A union leader who was a follower of Osho demanded that the colour of the police uniform must be changed from Khaki to Maroon. Most of the union leaders didn’t report to their regular duties and behaved arbitrarily. During those days, then CM A.R.Antulay used to appease union leaders like S.D.Mohite and sanctioned a space for the union’s office.

When I asked Jadhav about all these excesses, he admitted that indiscipline had happened, but such people were very few. Jadhav still believes that among all the governmental departments, the police force is the most overburdened one. There is still a need for an association of the policemen to convey their grievances to the government.

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

 

#Bombayphile: When Mumbai Underworld Collaborated With UP Gangsters

 

This week's Bombayphile couldn't be published on Sunday, as I had gone to my native village in Barabanki of Uttar Pradesh to attend my grandfather's funeral. While returning back, I met Mr, Rajesh Pandey at Lucknow. Mr.Pandey is a retired IPS officer and a founding member of the famed Special Task Force (STF) of the UP Police. Since the time Yogi Adityanath became the CM of UP, the STF has been often in the news for killing history-sheeters in the alleged encounters.

Mr. Pande, after his retirement, is successfully running a YouTube channel where he tells stories of crime. Recently, he became an author as well by publishing his first book "Operation Bajooka". The book is based on his hunt for Sriprakash Shukla, who had become UP's most dreaded gangster in the 90s and even conspired to murder then CM Kalyan Singh. An hour-long conversation with him at his residence surprised me. Although Mr.Pandey had never served in the Maharashtra Police, he had an in-depth knowledge of the Mumbai underworld. It was with his help that the police in Mumbai were able to crack many important cases in the city. The Mumbai Police had to work in tandem with their UP counterparts because the gangs of Mumbai had forged a collaboration with the gangsters of the UP.

The J.J.Hospital shootout of 1992 to avenge the murder of Dawood's brother-in-law Ibrahim Parker by Arun Gawli gang was executed by hitmen from UP. Dawood assigned Brijesh Singh, Subhash Singh Thakur and other UP based gangster to execute a shootout that is considered to be the biggest in Mumbai. Over 500 rounds of bullets were fired and for the first time an AK-47 rifle was used by the underworld.

Abu Salem, who defected from the Dawood gang in 1997 also called gangsters from UP to kill his targets. Many of his shooters hailed from Azamgarh, his native district in UP. Chhota Shakeel, the top lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim, also hails from UP and recruits hitmen from his home state. Even Arun Gawli, whose gang members were mostly from Maharashtrian mill workers families, also hired shooters from UP. Mr.Pandey told me that the Mumbai Police had asked for his help to nab a few shooters based in Unnao district of UP, who were hired by Gawli to bump off film maker Madhur Bhandarkar. As per the Mumbai Police, an actress aggrieved with Bhandarkar had given a contract to Gawli to kill him.

 

Even Chhota Rajan had men from UP in his gang and prominent among them was Omprakash Singh aka OP. Singh's native place was Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and joined the underworld after his brother was killed by the gangsters of Amar Naik gang for deposing as a witness in another shootout. Naik's shooter were on the lookout for Singh as well, but he came in contact with Chhota Rajan who offered him protection and inducted him in the gang. Soon Singh became a trsutworthy man of Chhota Rajan and took major decisions for the gang. However, once Rajan was told that Singh was planning to defect from the gang in connivance with a police officer. Allegedly on the instructions of Rajan, his other gang members killed Singh inside the Nasik jail in 2002.

The gangs in Mumbai chose gangsters from UP for several reasons. Firstly, they had no criminal record in Mumbai and hence couldn't come on the Mumbai Police ' radar before killing someone. Secondly, they were cheap. A teenager from UP could come and kill someone in Mumbai just for Rupees 5,000. They were provided return flight tickets by the gangs. Another factor was their daredevilry. For money, they could make an attempt on someone who was protected by the police.

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

#Bombayphile - Why Dawood Ibrahim’s Name Still Reverberates In Mumbai Politics?

Underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim might be sitting miles away from Mumbai in Karachi, but his name often reverberates in the politics of Mumbai. And this has been happening for the last three decades. Several politicians have faced allegations of being linked with India’s most wanted fugitive. The latest on the list is Nawab Malik, who recently secured bail from the Supreme Court.

Nawab Malik was a minister in CM Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet. The Enforcement Directorate arrested him on 23 February 2022 in a money laundering case linked to Dawood Ibrahim. Malik was also a spokesman for the NCP and fiercely targeted the BJP. When the NCB arrested actor Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan, Malik strongly criticized the agency, claiming that the case was fabricated and that Aryan was arrested to extort money from his father. After Malik's arrest, the NCP alleged that it was the BJP’s move to silence him.

Nawab Malik’s political boss Sharad Pawar too had faced allegations of being hand in glove with Dawood in the decade of 90s. A municipal officer named G R.Khairnar alleged that Pawar had links with Dawood and he was protecting Dawood’s illegal constructions. Khairnar had made a list of properties owned by Dawood and was bulldozing them one after another. His campaign led to a tremendous uproar, and it was alleged that Khairnar was targeting a particular community. Consequently, his wings were clipped. Khairnar alleged that Pawar was behind the move at the behest of Dawood. He soon became an anti-corruption activist and on a public platform alleged that there were truckloads of evidence against Pawar. However, Khairnar never produced the said evidence, and Pawar was never prosecuted in any court of law.

Allegations of Khairnar were capitalised by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance during the 1995 Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha polls. Shiv Sena’s Supremo Bal Thackeray even went to the extent of saying, “If they (Congress) have Dawood, we have Gawli.” Arun Gawli was a nemesis of Dawood. Eventually, the saffron alliance was successful in coming to the power. The allegations made by Khairnar played a major role in Pawar’s defeat.

Abu Azmi, the Maharashtra chief of Samajwadi Party, was embroiled in such a controversy. He was arrested under the stringent TADA law on charges of being part of 1993 Mumbai bombings conspiracy. Azmi was discharged due to lack of evidence. In 2005, a video was broadcast on Star News where he was seen in a function organised by Dawood in Dubai. It was the wedding reception of Dawood's younger brother Mustakeem. Azmi said that he was a distant relative of Dawood and hence attended the event and had no stake in Dawood’s illegal business.

Dawood escaped from Mumbai in 1986 and so far, all the attempts to apprehend or kill him by the Indian agencies have failed. However, his name is still used to conceive political narratives in Mumbai. The hatred and anger against his name amongst the people of India, especially of Mumbai, still has the potential for political capitalisation.