Dongri to Dubai (58 page)

Soman, D.S., 173-176

Sri Krishna Commission, 226

State of Emergency in India, 89-94, 157

Surve, Bhargav, 128

Surve, Manohar aka Manya, 121, 127-133, 276, 364, 369; most feared gangster, 127-133; role in Sabir’s killing, 130-131; police encounter of, 132-133

Tankiwala, S.V., 91

Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) Act, 229

US- congressional report on Dawood, 340-341; and President’s EO No.13224, 305-306, 339; and press release on Dawood, 306-307; and Treasury Department, 3, 341, 342, 344

Utekar, Vijay, 197-202; grouse against Gawli, 197; failed attack on Reshim, 198; murdered Reshim in the prison, 197-198; encounter of, 201

Vajpayee, Atal Behari, 302

Varda Bhai (Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar), 19-33, 45, 65, 91, 94, 368, 369; turning point in the life of, 22; illicit liquor trade of, 22-23; in flesh trade, 26; transformation to a big don, 24-26; alliance with Haji Mastan, 28-30

Verma, Rohit, 215, 262, 290-294; killed, 293

Wahid, Thakiyuddin, xvi, 262-263; launched Vayudoot, 262; murdered, 262, 263

Wangya (Anil Parab), 187, 205

Wire tapping, 286-287

Young Party, 58, 61

Zarate, Juan, 340

Zende, Madhukar, 116, 142-145, 174, 200, 370; action against Mastan and Karim Lala, 116; working on Mushir abduction case, 143; arrested Amirzada, 145; at Agripada police station, 200

Acknowledgements

D
ongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia
has taken me over six years of research, compilation, verification, corroboration, writing, rewriting, tweaking, and all that goes into the making of a book of this scale. At the end of it, all I can say, without sounding immodest, is that this is a complete chronicle of the Mumbai mafia—something like this has never been published before.

On my own, I would have plodded along for a good fifteen years to accomplish this colossal task. If I have managed to finish this book in much less time, the credit goes to the scores of my friends, coworkers, police, journalists, and experts on the Mumbai mafia.

When I began in 2004–05, I realised that burning the candle at both ends—holding a full time job as a journalist and writing a book — was hara-kiri. While the job pretty much sucked the marrow out of my life, the book simply lay on the backburner.

When I finally got around to starting work on the book, Meenal Baghel delivered
Mumbai Mirror
and roped me in to handle the newspaper’s birth pangs. This proved a setback for
Dongri to Dubai
, though I kept researching. The more people I met and the more I worked on the book, my heart sank at the knowledge of the enormous task at hand.

Once again I approached my go-to-guy, Vikram-the-great-Chandra. He came to my rescue with a must-have bible for all struggling writers, a book called
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott, which helped me overcome my writer’s block and the problem of processing such humongous amount of information.

Every time Vikram returned from the US, he would unfailingly bring me several books on various topics, which facilitated the task of simplifying the narration. He also gave me email tutorials on the art of story telling. Vikram, I could have never imagined authoring a book and I continue to write because of you. My most exclusive thanks are reserved for you.

So I began rewriting the chapters, which I believe is one of the most daunting tasks for any writer — to write something, trash it, and begin writing all over again.

In the meanwhile, I quit
Mumbai Mirror
and joined
Indian Express
before eventually going back to the
Asian Age
where I had first cut my teeth in journalism way back in 1995.

Here I met Lakshmi Govindrajan and Megha Moorthy, two fabulous women who decided that they would not spare the rod if I succumbed to laziness while writing the book. They kept pushing me to set smaller goals for the book. With their help and despotic compassion, I managed to finish the first draft in 2010.

In fact it was Lakshmi who kept a yellow diary to log the progress of chapters and discussed the flow and placements of the content. She did not ease up on the pressure until I finished the book. Thank you very much, Lakshmi.

Subsequently, Aditya Iengar, a sub editor at the
Asian Age
, took over from where they had left. He sat with a fine-tooth comb to look for gaps in editing. My profound gratitude to the two Tam-Brahm girls and the half south-Indian but fully Bengali Adi for making this book a reality.

Many thanks go to my publishers Pramod Kapoor sahab and Priya Kapoor for being so patient for over six years and putting up my with eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. I immensely appreciate the way they never gave up on me.
Shukriya
, to both of you for being so kind and accommodating. I am also thankful to the editors at Roli Books, Rajni George and Jyotsna Mehta.

In the process of writing the book, I relied heavily on the investigative skills of some of the finest journalists in this country like Usman Gani Muqadam, Pradeep Shinde, and Jyoti Dey, all of whom are no more with us. Their contribution to the book is immense.

Muqadam helped me with information on old mafia dons like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Bakhiya, and others who were active between 1947 and the 1970s. Shinde’s insight into Varadarajan Mudaliar’s gang was very helpful, while Dey generously discussed his perspective about the Kanjurmarg company and the Byculla company of the Gawli gang and the Nana company of Chhota Rajan.

I would like to profusely thank Misha Glenny, the celebrated author of
McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Underworld
, for his generous and insightful inputs on Dubai as the world capital and a burgeoning Mafiosi hub. Thanks a zillion, Misha.

Among other journalists of today who helped me is Jigna Vora, one of the best crime journalists in our country after the late Jyoti Dey. There is none like her, a woman of unimpeachable integrity, in contemporary crime reporting, while most of the crime reporters, I am sorry to say, are merely ‘police-stenographers’. Thanks, Jigna, for your insights into the ways of the Mumbai mafia post 2006. A big thank you is also due to Josy Joseph of the
Times of India
, who plied me with reams of secret dossiers from the intelligence agencies.

Mateen Hafeez, special correspondent with the
Times of India
, who took pains to travel to Nalla Sopara, the far end of Mumbai’s burgeoning western suburbs, and boarded a crowded bus from there, which took another hour of tedious journey, to interview exhaustively the late Usman Gani, deserves a special mention here. While two such trips took its toll on my mood, Mateen undertook over ten such rickety rides and did not flinch even once. He also pored over the archives of Urdu newspapers like the
Inquilab
,
Urdu Times
, and
Akhbare Alam
and translated the stories into English for me. There are few good men like him.

Danish Khan, my former colleague at
Mumbai Mirror
, who is presently in London, helped me unravel Dawood’s teenage life from various cops and contacts. He also shared information and photographs of Abu Salem’s house in Sarai Mir,
Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. It is people like Danish and Mateen who have reinforced my faith in humanity.

My profound thanks to Smita Nair, the principal correspondent at the
Indian Express
, and one of the most underrated journalists in Mumbai, for digging out some unknown details about Varadarajan’s empire in the city, interviewing Varda’s daughter, Gomathi and also veteran journalist Pradeep Shinde.

Gautam Mengle from the
Asian Age
helped me with details on the Manya Surve encounter. Gautam is a promising reporter and, simply put, really good at his job.

Suhas Bhivankar is an encyclopedia on the Mumbai underworld. He is in his early seventies and is indefatigable. You would have to walk with Bhivankar for miles before he agrees to let you in on a glimpse of the past. He was the chief reporter of the Urdu daily
Urdu Times
, and must have been the first Maharashtrian to have held this job. He knows the Mumbai underworld like the back of his hand, as well as the various ranks of cops across the city.

My protégés — Menaka Rao of
Hindustan Times
who dug out old court documents and Rashmi Rajput of NDTV who procured a whole lot of old newspaper clippings and photographs of dons have been of great help to me. Rashmi especially has made me very proud with her sharp investigative skills and unfailing hardwork. A big thank you to both these girls.

Rehana Bastiwala of the BBC Urdu news service conducted several interviews on my behalf while Sandra Almeida, news editor of
Hindustan Times
, helped me immensely during my initial research. Thanks Rehana and Sandra for your valuable contribution.

Pranoti Surve, who interned with
Indian Express
, helped me with the initial ten chapters of the book. She was also my sounding board during the initial years when I started writing. Unfortunately for me but most fortuitously for her, she zipped off to London when she got a scholarship to study at the prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies in London. By the time she returned, I was wrapping up the book. Thank you Pranoti, for your time and dedication.

The other group of friends who were generous in their help was from the Mumbai police department. My profound thanks to Deputy Inspector General of Police, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Pradeep Sawant. When I started the book way back in 2005, Sawant was the deputy commissioner of police, Crime Branch. At my first request for help, he made several important files and documents available to me, which proved to be invaluable.

The legendary Rakesh Maria, chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, has been always forthcoming with information on the Mumbai mafia despite his hectic schedule. Thank you, Maria saab.

Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Brijesh Singh’s insights into techno surveillance is unparalleled. Every time I met him, I came back wi-fied and enriched!

Among the retired cops, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ishaq Bagwan was of invaluable help. He gave me extensive interviews lasting several hours, which provided deep insights into the gruesome underbelly of the Mumbai mafia, especially the Pathans and their Machiavellian ways.

Retired ACP Madhukar Zende was amazing with his excellent recall of crimes that occurred forty years ago. We need many more like him.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Iqbal Shaikh and ACP Sunil Deshmukh helped me with the reconstruction of the 1991 Lokhandwala encounter, which, two decades later, is still the Mumbai police’s most sensational run-in with the mafia.

I am also grateful to family members of Dawood Ibrahim, including his sister Haseena Parkar, who spoke to me at length. Ahmed chacha was also helpful as always.

The late Abdur Rahim alias Rahim chacha, the childhood friend of Baashu Dada, Ibrahim Parkar, and elder to Dawood, was generous in talking about Dawood and helped me reconstruct several scenes narrated in this book. Rahim chacha, who lived in Behrampada in Bandra east, called me to his home several times and spoke for several hours despite his ill health and infirmity.

Dawood’s other Konkani relatives also helped and spoke to me extensively on the condition of anonymity.

This acknowledgement would be incomplete until I express my thanks to some of the unnamed members of the Mumbai mafia. The intimate, tiny details about Dawood’s personal and early life came from them. These men were his childhood friends who played
gilli-danda
with him and some of them have still kept in touch with him even after he relocated to Dubai and Pakistan.

The scenes and dialogues in the book have been recreated and written with the help of these men who have sworn me to secrecy. The scenes are as close to accurate as it can get with some creative licence. It is needless to add that the accuracies in the book belong to these benefactors and the friends mentioned earlier, while the errors are solely mine.

Before I sign off, I have to mention my ferociously loyal friend Anuradha Tandon, who keeps me firmly planted on terra firma, and deserves a special thanks for always asking me to raise the bar.