#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.)