Friday, January 14, 2011

Haji Mastan- The don with kindness



BY Vaidehi Sachin
A Bollywood movie named Once upon a time in Mumbai has been released in Mumbai The film based on the life of Haji Mastan is produced by the soap opera queen Ekta Kapoor. It has Ajay Devgn and Emran Hashmi playing Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim and the story rolls around the former who rises from a small time thief in Mumbai ports to become a king pin smuggler and a sensation in Mumbai. Later with most Muslim operatives in the crime world, Haji is probably coerced into joining politics and relocates to Delhi leaving his empire in Mumbai to a capable person Dawood. Another dreaded gangster is Karim Lala and Samad Khan who was eliminated in the very compound of the High court.
Times changed and so did the organized crime in Mumbai. Their businesses were extortion, smuggling, prostitution, black marketeering and even killing in instances. But there was a pattern in the good old days where there was a certain claimed respect and faith and honour of the word. But as real estate costs escalated the crime scene became more intricate and globalised with Drugs making a headway in back streets of Mumbai and every city of federal India. Moreover, the nexus grew rapidly as socialists and communists were eased out of their strong holds in working areas of Lalbaug and Parel with goons replacing and commanding respect more out of fear and subjugation and harassment rather that social service. Amar Naik, Ashwin Naik and Arun Gawli were calling the shots now from these areas which fed rank and file for the gangs with manpower.The nexus now involved the Bollywood which had yet to get an industry status being financed by hawala and black money makers from smuggling rings and drug cartels. This nexus grew larger and intricate with the involvement of zopadaptti dadas like Babu Reshim and Vardarajan Mudaliar. With the ability of some of these elements to mobilize vote banks the politicians were drawn into the underworld and encounter killings became routine with human right kicked out of shape and police officers becoming dreaded heroes like the Dons of the underworld.
Lay press practically carried daily story of the dons of the underworld and prepared the entertainment seekers to look forward to movies which highlighted hype and thrill of this out of bounds domain. Satya, Parinda, Vastaav, Ab tak Chappan are some of the movies which tried to depict the reign of dons in Mumbai. The word Don itself had roots in Don Corleone of Italian Mafia in Mario Puzos Novel 'The godfather'. Then terrorism slowly seeped into the crime scene with syndicates freely enlisting manpower across borders and region. Dawood was implicated in few such bomb blasts and very cleverly extradicated to middle east which is now the capital of crime world the shift have taken place because the politicians replaced  the local crime syndicates, playing their proxies. Suketu Mehta has brought out some of the politics behind the gang wars in his novel 'Maximum City'
At this juncture, it is necessary to appreciate that underworld is a manpower intensive 'industry' with no particular qualification to get into it. It does not produce or manufacture anything hence at most one can compare it to service industry. Although at present it does not enjoy any industry status eventually it may get one just as prostitution and Bollywood got. From where does this manpower come? From inner city localities which are low income groups with higher rates of unemployment and illiteracy, migrant localities with zero allegiance to any standard groups and organizations i.e. unorganized sector. In those days these areas were Bhendi Bazar and Madanpura. I remember when I visited my friend an excise officer who stayed in Bhendi Bazar area, there were two factions one north Indian Muslim gang and another from Kerala called Malbaris who regularly fought street fights to get control of the area. These included petty thieves, fraudsters, history sheeters, convicts, absconders, Tadi par criminals.
During my tender school days days, I once accompany my uncle in police department, to meet one such tadipar goonda who used to sit in hiding at a small hotel under the staircase of Railway bridge connecting east and west at Dadar. His name was Pappu a well built robust fair boy who later joined Bollywood and acted in a few movies as extra especially in dance sequences. Pappu  was a dare devil and at the MGMO swimming pool where he was a member he would jump the highest on the spring board before he dived in to the water with style and verve. One fine day Pappu was killed on Juhu beach by three goons who attacked him with knives where he was found smooching a girl at a lonely spot. I am sure Pappu must have given a very stiff fight in spite of it being 3 versus one. The story about Haji Mastan that made us admire him in those days was as follows: I was aware of a huge stable for Horses and carriages termed as Tongas on Bellasis road near Alexandra talkies. Shaikh went to stay at a high rise building in front and he told us of the story of how Haji Mastan cleared the place overnight getting rid of the Muslim tonga wallas. He and his men stood at the gate and ousted the horsemen paying them arbitrary amount as compensation for once and ever so that they never returned. The place was then sold to a big builder after this forced eviction. Mumbai which boasted of Horses and Carriages called Victorias lost this heritage. Thanks to the father of Underworld Mafia in Mumbai The Great Haji Mastan.

AN IDEAL LEADER OF THE UNDERWORLD



by Vaidehi Sachin
The Docks of Mumbai have been a heaven offering prosperity to the ones with guts and dynamism. Haji Mastan was the first Blessed-Son-of-Docks [Mumbai Godi] to have realised this. Rising from a loader to the most-heavyweight and glamorous smuggler of the equally glamorous Indian town then Bombay now Mumbai; Mastan maintained a clean record of non-violent smuggler. He nurtured friends in customs and police as well as in politics.
The only other character in the history of docks to have tasted the colour of money and power via docks is Babu Reshim. Like Mastanbhai, Reshim too rose from a mere loader to the don of Docks. He however came to be established as a leader of the Godi workers more than a smuggler. Reshim was a canteen worker in the docks. The strength of the dock-workers helped Reshim to emerge as a Bhai with dedicated manpower. He formed an internal union of Docks workers in 1980.
The association of Rama Naik, a local from Byculla area and Arun Gawli another local who also was a part of hawkers union added strength to the might of Babu Reshim.
There was Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar fighting for an autonomous reign independent of the Pathan patronage offered by Karim Lala. His battle had assumed intense gravity with the killing of his brother Shabbir by the henchmen of Samad Khan; Pathan's nephew. Dawood had to postpone his marriage for meeting necessities of his life; namely; elimination of Samad Khan.
He approached Babu Reshim for performing the most crucial task of his life. Reshimbhai consented to help as he hated the Pathans for their drug-trade. Dawood was relieved by the generous gesture of Babu Reshim. The task was serious and Reshim decided to participate in the operation in person. He formed the unit of shooters with Anil Parab, Sunil Sawant and Chhota Rajan. The whole team slept in a tempo beneath the hotel from where Samad was to leave in the wee hours of next day.At around 4 am Samad alighted with his girl who was posted by Dawood. His bodyguard kept the gun aside for loading baggage in the car. Reshim and his team opened fire. The girl walked in the dark.
Babu Reshim became a name to reckon with in the Mumbai underworld with this killing. He invited many liabilities with this new image, the Pathans and their allies. Dawood left India for Dubai. Reshim had the cover of Docks' Workers' Union; unlike Rama Naik; who joined Dawood as a full-fledged gangster. Arun Gawli had his hawkers and mill-workers while running gang operations.Reshim started feeling the heat by Pathans and preferred to stay in the lock-up. By this time; he had to his credit many operations run via Naik and Gawli into the Mumbai underworld shootouts. By virtue of circumstances Reshim became an ally of Dawood Ibrahim. It was established by this time that a jolt to Dawood Empire would have to be via Reshim.
The Dholakia brothers; Mahesh and Arvind took up the task of eliminating Babu Reshim. Heavy money was showered upon the authorities for 'facilitating' the death in lock-up.
Vijay Kanjari Utkar was hired for carrying out the shoot-out in the Jacob Circle Lock-up; that was to set a dreaded mark upon the Mumbai city. Utkar was aided by seven other persons who entered the lock-up with grenades and guns; like authorities. The constable on duty was armed and 'refused' to hand-over the keys to the attackers. Utkar then threw the grenade into the lock-up cell housing Reshim and opened fire. The constable with keys and weapon was not hurt; but another one on duty was killed. Three others were injured.For the first time, the Bombay High Court acknowledged the role of authorities in the underworld operations while confirming the death sentence awarded to two accused.Utkar was later shot in a police encounter at Dadar. The only shoot-out which took place in the history of Mumbai in the police-lock-up saw the end of an otherwise remarkable era; that of Babu Gopal Reshim.
Haji Mastan is distinguished as a pure smuggler who kept away and beyond the filth of the violent underworld. Reshim had an option; but was appealed by the contention of Dawood that the Pathans had to be marginalised for their drug-business that was spreading poison in the city. However, an operation does not end with the limited target. Both the sides evolve into targets themselves. Reshim changed the tracks for a novel intention; but had to miss the tracks further in life out of compulsion. He had potential of Dr. Datta Samant as well as his militancy. He enjoyed total dedication of the dock-workers as they respected his concern for them and their cause.Mumbai's godi populace lost an ideal leader to the underworld.
The life and crimes of the don
On a hot and humid Mumbai day around 500 people have queued up in front of the notorious Dagdi Chawl in Byculla. Unemployed youngsters seeking jobs, old mothers seeking blessings for their sons, helpless women wanting their drunken husbands to be taught a lesson, big shots, budding gangsters, shady politicos  the procession of loyalists and hangers-on is long. Everyone is waiting for Arun Gawli, aka Daddy: the benevolent mafia don turned social reformer turned politico with a string of cases against him and a crime record which dazzles despite the D Company. Dagdi Chawl is as famous among the locals in Mumbai, as is perhaps 7, Racecourse Road in New Delhi. It is a microcosm of the underbelly of the underworld. It is the kingdom-cum-fortress of the don which houses Arun Gulab Gawli's banana republic inside the intestines of Mumbai.
The famous chawl is a three-storey building now, with a huge iron gate. It has history written on its walls. This was the chawl of the first kings of the Mumbai underworld  Rama Naik, Babu Reshim and Chhota Babu. This was where the Dawood Ibrahim gang fired upon Chhota Babu in broad daylight 12 years ago. Even the Iron Gate was at the centre of a controversy. The Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corpo-ration (BMC) says it is illegal. But the gate continues to stand. And 'Daddy', 53, likes to “serve” the people, like Robin Hood. He seldom steps outside his fortress. He could be killed by a rival gang, or arrested by the police, as he was defacing public property. That was because Gawli's men had put up posters on government buildings in Byculla urging the residents to get their houses repaired for free. But being forced to stay inside doesn't stop the don from 'fixing' the problems of 'his people'.
Everyone is served a cold drink. He walks out to meet his 'subjects', in the backdrop of a huge, garish Shiv Mandir built in the premises. Incidentally, the Maha Shivratri artis were the bread and butter of a rampaging Shiv Sena in the past. Especially during those dark winter days of 1992-93, when the Mumbai programme was organised in meticulous detail. These days, Gawli organises the Maha Shivratri festival with huge pomp. And this is not the only thing he has appropriated of the Sena.
The chawls of Agripada, where Dagdi is, were working class strongholds. This was prior to the textile workers' strike and before their spine was broken by the mafia, politicians and the Sena. The Sena soon moved into unions and real estate, the quick nexus of money and muscle. But what happened to the 2,00,000 mill workers?
After the strike, crime moved in. Young boys and unemployed men became strings in the puppet shows of the underworld. Local festivals saw vulgar, criminal money being poured in. This underbelly was also the Sena's potential constituency. So was it for the underworld, the Bhais of Mumbai. The area always had local mandals, music and (kreeda) sports clubs. Every community had its own teams, the neo Buddhists, the Muslims, there was reportedly a Jewish kabaddi team too. Gawli himself was a kabaddi player with the Om Byculla Kabaddi Mandal. Rootless youngsters and ruthless gangsters were made for each other. Gawli took to it like a fish to water. Cut to the present. 'Daddy' is relaxing on a sofa, a framed picture of Ganapati behind him. Clad in white, with a Gandhi cap, the don has now assumed the role of a mainline politician. “Right from my childhood, I was attracted towards social work,” he declares. Around 25 cases have been registered against Gawli, including murder, kidnapping, and extortion, which is supposedly his forte. Gawli was reportedly a key figure in the mill murders that rocked Mumbai in the 1990s. The list of crimes he has been accused of is long and stretches for more than a decade.
In February 1999, Gawli was externed from Mumbai and taken to Pune by the police. By that time he had metamorphosed into an up-coming politician and president of his own party, the Akhil Bharatiya Sena. But the Sena was after his blood; he was not only a major political threat, he was even co-opting Sena rebels in his party, flexing his muscles, cocking a snook at Bal Thackeray. His externment had its share of drama: Gawli stepped out at 12.30 from Dagdi Chawl, while hundreds gathered to bid him farewell. Before the VIP convoy of cars and jeeps could move, Gawli went to seek the blessing of his mother, Laxmibai, and then, with his wife and two sons, prayed at the Mahadev temple. The gangster was externed for two years under Section 56 of the Mumbai Police Act for his involvement in extortion, intimidation and murder. The police claimed that there were three cases where victims refused to lodge complaints out of sheer fear  Arun Gawli's revenge is as famous as his benevolence.
“So many industries in this city have been closing down. Unemployment is rampant. I want to do something for the jobless youngsters,” says Gawli. You can hear echoes of his life in that.
He was born to a poor Mumbai mill worker and had five siblings. He dropped out of school at 16. He joined the Rama Naik gang as a “contract killer”. “No case is pending against me. I can contest elections like any other candidate,” he says.
“This is kalyug. The politicians are doing a lot of injustice to the common people. I want to change the whole scenario,” he adds.
Locals say, as a child, Gawli was a good kabaddi player, before he started playing bloodier games. But the fighting spirit still shows. “My opponents are trying to implicate me. Ever since I declared my candidature, they are having sleepless nights.” The enemy camp is caught in a quandary. The NCP is fielding Gawli's nephew, MLA Sachin Ahir, against Gawli. Ironically, the don helped Ahir get elected from the Sewri assembly constituency in 1999. Ahir was then the only NCP MLA elected from Mumbai, a Shiv Sena stronghold. “We should all ignore him (Gawli). His candidature has no value” said Vasant Chavan, NCP spokesperson. A cocky Subash Desai, Sena leader, claims that South Central Mumbai is “Our stronghold… we are least bothered about Gawli.”
In 2004 --- M Samad Khan, former don Karim Lala's fiery nephew, was a name to reckon with in the underworld in the early 80s. But his weakness for women led to his being killed at Sikka Nagar in south Mumbai.
The year was 1984. Dawood Ibrahim's family was celebrating his younger brother Anees's wedding when the well-built Pathan he had just been released on bail struck.
Using his automatic weapon, Khan fired indiscriminately into the crowd. Iqbal Kaskar, Dawood's brother, was also injured in the attack.
Dawood was enraged. But planning a counter attack was not that simple. Khan and his associates Baba Khan, Mallad Khan, Jangrez, Karim and Sheru were a powerful team.
Dawood was aware of Khan's liking for women and that got him thinking. He dropped the plan of using an informant. Instead, the wily don decided to use a woman to bait Khan. Nassem, a Kashmiri girl, was brought in from New Delhi to lure Khan. The Pathan fell for the bait. It was decided that they would meet in an old building at Sikka Nagar, near Khetwadi. Dawood tipped-off Babu Reshim. Chhota Rajan, Sanjay Ruggad, Dilip Bhuva and Sunil Sawant took their positions outside the building armed with automatic weapons. The night dragged on. Khan was on his way out and the gangsters waiting downstairs were informed. As soon as the elevator stopped on the ground floor, the shooters emptied the magazines into the strongly built Khan, killing him on the spot. The girl just slipped out on to the deserted streets. Later, Hamid Dalip took responsibility for the killing after he was arrested in Bangalore. He said he wanted to avenge the death of his father, Aziz Dalip. Khan was named in the 1983 murder.
Post-Independent India was a land of golden opportunity. And one of the many hands that grabbed that opportunity was a man who toiled for 12 hours a day at the docks in Bombay. The man we grew up to know as Haji Mastan. In the early 70s, dons like Haji Mastan ruled the roost with the pure intent of making money. It was a profitable era devoid of supari killings, gang wars and shoot-outs. Born to a humble family of farmers in Tamil Nadu, Mastan Haider Mirza first came to the city in 1954 in search of greener pastures. He joined as a daily wager at the docks earning a paltry sum of Rs 5 per day. Frustrated at the hand-to-mouth existence and his inability to earn money, Mastan turned to smuggling imported watches, radios and gold biscuits from the docks. The money started flowing in and soon he began roping in more coolies to handle his operations.
In the late 50s, the state government imposed a prohibition on alcohol and that created the perfect opportunity for Mastan to cash in. Rampant smuggling of liquor ensured profits for everyone involved in the process, right from the hands that smuggled the bottles to the hands that poured it in glasses across the city. Mastan was a peaceful person and never advocated violence in his business. He believed in the concept of making money and sharing the spoils with the chain of people involved in the game. It was a smooth ride for the smugglers as there were no murders or shoot-outs and therefore no criminal cases were registered. The cops were happy with the weekly under-the-table arrangement and never came knocking at their doors. However, that era of thriving business was soon replaced by a bloodbath on the streets with the advent of dons like Dawood Ibrahim, Sayed Batla, Amirzada, Rama Naik and Babu Reshim.
One particular incident that sounds right out of a Bollywood masala flick was when Sayed Batla, a dreaded gangster stormed into Mastan's office and threatened the ageing businessman. "Batla kisi ka ghulam nahin hai, ke uske galey mein patta dal do," he screamed from Dongri at Mastan. Mastan understood that the time had come for his business to move ahead and needed the likes of Batla. The end of the 'business' era was here. There were other businessmen who specialised in supplying smuggled goods to traders at Musafirkhana -- a hub of smuggled goods. Smugglers like Karim Lala hired Batla's nemesis Dawood Ibrahim and his elder brother Sabir. Most of these toughies were used as recovery agents to collect money from defaulting traders at Shuklaji street and other pockets where smuggling goods were sold in large quantities.
However, events took a nasty turn when Dawood crossed swords with members of the Pathan faction led by Amirzada over a recovery from a Customs agent. The tiff resulted in the Pathan brothers killing Dawood's brother Sabir in 1981. The murder launched a bloodbath that resulted in over 20 high-profile gangsters being gunned down, including Amirzada inside the Sessions Court in September 1983.While Dawood had the support of gangsters like Rama Naik and Babu Reshim, the Pathans formed their own group. It was a war between the Konkanis and Pathans. The killings marked the end of the smuggler's era, most of whom had never fired a round or stabbed an adversary. Soon after Dawood took over the smuggling business, most of the businessmen went into hibernation. Mastan began dabbling with film production and distribution. He also floated a political party Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985. He continued to be a social worker until his death in 1994.
One of the shrewdest real estate dons in the Mumbai underworld, Yusuf Patel had mastered the art of creating construction space out of thin air. While slumlords extended their empire horizontally, Patel has the dubious distinction of pioneering the acquisition of illegal Floor Space Index (FSI), to send his buildings skyrocketing into space. By the 1980s, the underworld was settling into the city's landscape, modifying it in subtle ways. Gangs began to feed on the growth of slums, using them to find new recruits, new proving grounds and to wriggle their way into politics. The explosive growth of slums coincided with the alarming rise of organised syndicates. Gangs were offered Rs 3,000 per hut -- money which was shared by the underworld, police and civic authorities. Patel's contemporary Vardharajan Mudaliar alias Vardhabhai collected around Rs 2 crore from the slumlords in and around Dharavi and Sion-Koliwada. Most of the collector's land along the creek was encroached upon by the don's henchmen.
While most of the gangs were providing protection to the slumlords, Patel went one step ahead and performed the feat of grabbing additional FSI illegally. The art has, since, been perfected by other dons and even builders. Patel's FSI scam was perpetrated so subtly that it took the civic authorities 16 long years to find out that the don had tampered with land records. Born Abdul Majid Abdul Patel, a Memon Muslim, he got involved in smuggling textiles and silver with Haji Mastan around 1963. However, the alliance did not last long because of financial disputes with the syndicate. In 1977, Janta Dal leader Jai Prakash Narayan offered amnesty to all smugglers. Patel jumped on to the bandwagon and everybody in the underworld thought he had shunned the life of a criminal, that the docks and the goons were things of the past for him. While others forgot his dubious past, Patel launched his own construction company and began operating from Pydhonie. And, while the other dons were still dealing with the police, Patel began grabbing additional FSI, fetching himself multi-crore deals. A few buildings, including a hotel near Nagpada junction, were part of his deals in south Mumbai.
Everything seemed normal on the surface until an upright BMC official discovered that a large number of land records from several ward offices had been tampered with Prima facie, investigating officials discovered that Patel had manipulated the deals of two buildings in Tardeo and three in Byculla. They would soon discover that there were 50 other cases of gross manipulation of land records, which were carried out in connivance with civic officials. By the mid-80s, Dawood Ibrahim had also learnt the art of FSI grabbing. He brought in a team of 'white collar' associates to specialise in tampering with land records and corner the lion's share of income from real estate in South Mumbai. Patel's keeping away from the docks and goons proved to be a blessing in disguise because when things started to get ugly in the Mumbai underworld, he managed to avoid direct confrontation with Karim Lala's nephew Samad and gangsters owing allegiance to Dawood.
It is the 'don' of a new era as the underworld is abuzz with who will be the next kingpin to rule the high seas, a coveted area of operation which is not only lucrative but also dangerous across the seven islands. The daylight murder of Chand Sayed Madar in September was an indicator that he had outlived his utility. Chand was also involved in paani ka kaam or working on the high seas. The booking of Mohammed Ali for Chand's murder was like killing two birds with one stone. Ali had become too big for his boots and crossed swords with some local politicians and senior police officers.
New Kingpin
Even as the Crime Branch's investigations revolve around the murder, the motive could be linked to taking over the business from Madar or Chandbhai, as he is known. It could also mean installing a new kingpin, which often happens with the blessings of some corrupt cops. The new kingpin could be Paaniwalla Sadru. There are others like Rafiq, Battiwala, Munna Maldar, Murugan, Santosh and Sadiq who are all trying to corner the lion's share of income from diesel smuggling. Then again, the next man could be a D Company nominee. The gang not only wants to control the Rs. 1,000-crore diesel business, but also the smuggling of contraband to the grey market hubs at Manish Market and Musafirkhana. Tonnes of goods are transported across the Carnac Bunder Bridge to hundreds of dingy kiosks. Pivotal arm Paani ka kaam is one of the most important arms of Mumbai's underworld. For the gangs, it means controlling the littoral waters and landing of contraband into the city. A stark reminder is the arms and ammunition, which was dumped by Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon's associates along the Raigad coast resulting in the serial blasts in 1993. Paani ka kaam or smuggling on the high seas is a very lucrative business estimated at Rs. 1,000 crore annually, but, like anything with high returns, the risks are high too.
It is also one of the most dangerous areas for the underworld to operate within. Another case in point is Yusuf Kasargod alias Yusuf Handsome. He was forced to leave Mumbai and head for his village in Kerala. The list is long. Paani ka kaam on the high seas has always attracted members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. Even the explosives used in the 1993 serial blasts were smuggled through the sea route in Raigad district. A new theory gaining ground in Mumbai's underworld is that a pair called Tingubhai and Langdabhai is interested in paani ka kaam. The duo was considered close to Dawood Ibrahim's right-hand-man, Chhota Shakeel. The Tingu-Langda duo decided to take over paani ka kaam from most of the small timers. They want to buy up all the redundant boats and barges needed for paani ka kaam. Slain Chand was an obstacle. Despite the mounting police raids, he did succumb to pressure tactics of the thugs Tingu and Langda, both white-collar lieutenants. The majority of the paani ka kaam wallahs found favour with Dawood's younger brother Anees. Tingu and Langda were aligned to the Shakeel faction. Even as various gangs were marking their territories, Additional Commissioner of Police (south region) R K Padmanabhan stepped up patrolling along the coast.
This seriously affected the paani ka kaam in the Mumbai harbour. As a fallout of this increased patrolling, business shrunk. Chand though, continued to hold on to his alleged shipping business with the help of his cronies. "We are checking all possible angles," Padmanabhan told media when asked about the murder. Changing fortunes though the seas are tinged with blood, paani ka kaam has changed the fortunes of many. While some involved were hardcore underworld operatives, others operated from the fringes without getting dragged into sinister crime. It is the proverbial rags to riches story for most. People who started as 'apprentice' killers (a gory label but necessary to understand the hierarchy of the crime world) have ended up as rich owners of 200 or more tankers. For more than three decades, the walls of the Mumbai docks have witnessed the rise and fall of Mumbai's mafia kingpins. If docks could speak, they would whisper about dubious triumphs and downfalls, truth and betrayal, life and death. In the early 1970s, when the tonnage of goods in the Bombay Port was steadily rising, there was enough work for the 1,000 odd workers as well as enough overtime, to keep port workers happy. It was common to see about 100 coolies eating snacks together after work.
Hectic work and the extra money was a windfall to the dozen restaurateurs operating in the Carnac Bunder area. Unknown to the port workers though, a motley group became active those days, after the workers had returned home. First, they jumped over the walls and broke into petty consignments, beginning with lifting small parcels, and then slowly getting more ambitious. Soon, the thieves were looting cartons and later, entire containers. Police sources say that Haji Mastan and his trusted lieutenants headed the group. Particularly promising amongst them was one Paul Patrick Newman. Slowly, stealthily but surely Mumbai's underworld was being nurtured. Mastan's men operated out of the Crescent House, off the docks. The cluster of the buildings in the area became an ideal spot for handling stolen goods and loading them onto tempos to be dispatched onward to their destinations across the city. Most of the activities were monitored from a local restaurant in the area. Increase in the tonnage in the port operations saw adequate underworld recruitment too. Small-time thieves and hooligans joined Mastan's team, almost gaining a free run in the 720-hectare land in the port zone. But the 1980s tonnage in the port shot up to more than 1,70,000 dead weight tonnes per annum.
The volume of pilferage rose too and truckloads of contraband were being delivered across Carnac Bunder to Musafirkhana and Manish Market. The smuggled cargo mostly comprised beer cans, textiles, tape recorders, cigarettes, perfumes and automatic watches. The goods could be easily traced to Musafirkhana, some shops in Heera Panna and many customs notified shops across the city. The money from the docks' prosperity saw the once sleepy business district of Ballard Pier in South Mumbai morph and get a dubious vivacity. It became an area where hotels did brisk business and nightlife grew, with prostitutes lining up at the corner. Soon, a strong competitor to Mastan emerged in the form of Afghan national, Karim Lala. After the duo divided their business, Mirchi Seth joined Lala. There was huge money in drugs smuggling and Dawood Ibrahim then made an attempt to corner a lion's share of the income. Lala had the backing of the Pathan brothers, Amirzada and Alamzeb.
Urban dacoit Manya Surve also joined the fray. By the '90s, smugglers found safe landing sites in the mangroves of Sewri-Wadala, Worli and Mahim. Some of the contraband was loaded onto small ships and ferried to distant jetties like Versova, Gorai and even Ratnagiri. With the opening of the economy, foreign goods were easily available in Indian markets. The demand for branded goods diminished. Cloth from the state-of-the-art textile mills replaced Boski and Stretchlon fabrics, which were in great demand till the late 1980s. Dawood Ibrahim and his cronies were left with very little choice but to shift their business to new areas like diesel smuggling. New operators like Chand and Sadru and jumped on to the bandwagon. Now, diesel Merchant vessels plying in and around Mumbai bring in a windfall to the smugglers in the city. Diesel from merchant vessels is smuggled in connivance with the ship's master (captain) and other senior officers. The agent clinches the deal even before the ship reaches Mumbai harbour. Some shipping companies from countries like Indonesia and Philippines have agents in Mumbai.
The agent acts as a point man and also helps in negotiating with the racketeers. They work on commission. What is worrisome is the fact all the payments are made in dollars and this gives a fillip to the burgeoning hawala trade in the city. Ship owners usually sanction a specified quantity of diesel for running the engine and other auxiliary machinery while sailing. The captain of the ship and a few senior officers go on an austerity drive to save fuel. Marine logbooks on the ships are fudged by crewmembers to show a high consumption pattern. Generally, air conditioners and other machines are switched off to save fuel. The purloined diesel is bought at around Rs. 12 per litre and sold at profits between Rs. 6 to Rs. 8 per litre.
Towards Lonavala
Investigations carried out by news papers indicated that consignments are smuggled to makeshift jetties in Navi Mumbai. Diesel is immediately loaded on to waiting tankers which head towards Lonavala, Pune, Kolhapur and up to Belgaum. The drivers of the tankers are provided with fake bills, a precaution if intercepted along the route. In most cases a sizeable hafta is ensured for officials of the channels through which the consignment is passing.
Mafioso links
The mafia has strong links with dubious petrol pump owners. The stolen diesel is dumped into the tanks of the petrol pump under cover of darkness. "Since diesel is sold clandestinely at cheap rates, it is a great loss to the state exchequer," said an excise officer, who did not want to be named.
The route
The sea-going tugs used for smuggling diesel sail out of the harbour in darkness and head for 'Bravo' anchorage, about 20 nautical miles off Mumbai harbour. The consignment is offloaded in less than an hour. The diesel-laden tugs and similar vessel head for sensitive Raigad coast through Murud-Janjira. The consignment is transferred in 200 litre cans, which is later filled into dredger and small crafts. Thus, goes on the most dangerous, coveted and lucrative businesses of the underworld where human life is cheap, the crash of waves drown out the gunshots and ghosts of the dead stay buried 20,000 leagues under the sea.

MUMBAI UNDERWORLD AND MIDDLEMEN

by -Vaidehi Sachin

 Hobnobbing with men in the riders of power is a falling common to all those who carry serious ambitions and have the will and dash to see it achieved doubly quick and preferably early in life. This habit has made and even marred the careers of all such who work within the fringes of power like journalists, lawyers, financiers, police officers, and even political touts.  Police officers in particular have always managed to get themselves off the hook or stalled some political big wig out to get them .Such games necessarily requires the co operation and even active connivance of not only those in political power but also their middlemen.
       Such middlemen often have turned out to be journalists who win the trust of these power centers , and act as brokers for their business, Journalists have the virtuous advantage of being able to get entry anywhere in the corridors of power mainly due to the importance of the mass media and its ability to transmit the sound bytes. Mention the camera and sound bytes and there may not be single politician of any hue able to resist the possible good repercussions of such a chance.
      It is this co operative spirit that has made the careers of many a journalist and his many patrons.  A sterling example of this game of ups and downs is perhaps the case of former journalist Ketan Tirodkar, once known to the fraternity of Mumbai scribes as an ace crime reporter. Ketan, to use a crime reporting phrase, struck pay dirt early in the game of life. A job in a bank meant access to several bits of crucial information to act upon or even possibly trade upon. The job acted as a catalyst to his plans to make it big in life on his own steam, long since having refuse to depend upon his reputed well to do family‘s resources.   
      Finding himself in a courier company he became an ace at extracting and even trading crucial bits of information sustained with uncomplicated evidence which could help his company rivals to steal a march over his own company.
      From there it was only a step away to journalism with the help of ambitious police officers who did not really have too many scruples about maintaining a sanctimonious way to the top of their careers.Among such officers were the encounter specialists who owed their long careers as sharp shooting cops to Tirodkar, who selectively picked their targets for them. Befriending don-turned-politician Arun Gawli who entrusted to him the job of helping build his party the Akhil Bhartiya Sena (ABS) along with his (Gawli ‘s ) trusted men Jitendra Dabholkar , Bhaskar Amdar, Vasant Gomne and Raju Philip , Thirodkar started decimating his benefactor by systematically setting up the latter’s men as targets for encounters .   That period, the mid –nineties, were choc a bloc with encounters , the Gawli gang in particular losing a large number of men to the recently celebrated late officer Vijay Salaskar ‘s team.    A large part of the repertoire of gangsters killed by Salaskar were significantly Gawli men , including his top aides  Sada Pawle , Vijay Tandel and Dilip Kulkarni which reduced the strength of the Dagdi  Chawl – based Gangster.    After Salaskar had systematically rid the scene off quite a few dreaded manes , the time was  ripe for the entry of motivated journalists and it was around this time that tirodkar had endeared himself to the Chotta Shakeel gang after his various ploys to get rid of Gawli men. He did not find himself alone there but had company in an other sharp – shooting cop, Daya Nayak, who had gained fame or notoriety as one would have it as man to be feared.

    Nayak’s associations with a school based in native Dakshin kannada had already come in for scrutiny when Tirodkar blew the whistle on him and exposed his dealing with Chota Shakeel and the course of history followed with Tirodkar in apparent moment of remorse at his own deeds and surrendered himself to the law, the custodians of which by then thought it apt to charge him with the stringent Maharashtra Control Of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA)           Having made a clean breast himself of all his past deeds and misdeeds and even now in the midst of facing the flak for it, Tirodkar does not require any public acknowledgement   but is a subject of this column only due to his proximity with the columnist who has closely observed his career in both its upward and downward swings.
        Tirodkar has paid for his self-confessed misdeeds the balance installments via his uncertain life, but he stands as an example to all aspiring young journalists or even less actively disposed young people of the route a human being can take to the top. What he has done can be called criminal but one must at the same time think of several officers like the one mentioned in this column. Almost all of them and even a long list of other Dirty Harrys not mentioned must be admitting in private that very often all that glistens and very brightly so is not pay dirt .   Of police officials it must be said that they too are every bit as media savvy and scheming natures to use their offices in an extra constitutional manner.

POLITICS OF IPS POSTINGS

by Vaidehi Sachin

AN ROY

The highest office for policemen in the state was that of the Inspector General of Police (IGP). The first Indian IGP was Kamte , the grandfather of the late Ashok Kamte , the martyr of the 26/11 terror attack and posthumous winner of the Ashoka Chakra.
For reasons best known to the powers that be, the post of a Director General of Police (DGP) was created. Speculation is rife that that the criteria is sometimes more political, than for reasons of seniority and merit, as recent development have proved.
The first DGP was Krishnarao Medhekar . is son is an IPS officer. Rajan Medhlekar in the Kerala cadre, who was instrumental in hosting a Police Museum dedicated to 20,000 martyr of the national police force.

BHUJBAL‘S FAVOURITE


The office has subsequently been graced by some dynamic and esteemed incumbents like S Ramamurthy, who was also the Commissioner Of Police (CP) of Mumbai, V K Saraf ; Arvind Imandar and others. Mumbai Commissioners elevated to the office also include Shubhash Malhotra , who ws unceremoniously transferred out of CP ‘s office after the daylight killing of real estate tycoon. Natwarbhai Desai opposite Mantrayala on 20 May, 1997. He however rose to the top rank of DGP at the initiative of the Detupy Chief Minister Chaggan Bhujbal . This was despite the fact that Malhotra was in Mumbai CP at the time of attack on the residence of Bhujbal by Shiv Sena activists when he was opposition leader.
Dr P.S. Pasricha is another CP Mumbai who was unceremoniously removed from office, about which he even made public comments about his removal. He still rose to the office of DGP again; it was Bhujbal who took the generous decision. It was the first time that names of some tainted officers came up for consideration to be appointed to the office of the DGP. R R Patil decided to arbitrarily allow A N Roy to supersede three senior officers. This is different from the shifting of Arvind Inamdar fron the office of DGP to the office equivalent in the training college; by then Dy. CM Bhujbal. Inamdar resigned. Bhujbal had also taken one other unique decision; that of dividing the Anti Corruption Bureau into the city and rural to ease out Ronnie Mendoca who had just trapped then Addl.CP Ajaykumar Jain. 3Iyyengar was brought in as DG ACB- City areas and Mendoca was given charge of Rural. However, there never was any scope for any officer to challenge the decision.


SHAME AND DISGRACE


S S VIRK
This time, the shame and disgrace was brought by R R Patil, who gave one line statement to justify his decision that he was appointing A N Roy for maintaining law and order. Its needs to be understood by ministers that the discretion is to be used intelegently and not moronically. Vilasrao Deshmukh , while appointing Johnny Joseph as the CS of the State had surpassed seven female bureaucrats out of which three were senior to Joseph and around equal number of his male colleagues were not considered for the post. Then CM had given a detailed assessment report why he was doing so. Then R R. Patil decision has opened floodstages for the judiciary to now assess each and every such desicision that is petitioned before them. S.S. Virk, known for his dynamism and popularity in the force, had a chance to be DGP of the State at the time Pasricha was appointed, but Virk’s friend, Capt. Amrinder Singh , was then CM of Punjab, and so he continued there.
Virk was DCP of Pune when Ranga Raja was the CP of Pune and the two were at loggerheads. A controversy broke when constables of the special branch were used for spying on each other; Virk was suspended and Ranga Raju was transferred. Virk then returned to Punjab and rose to heights in terms of hierarchy, as well as popularity.




TRANSPRACY AND RIGHT APPROACH


Suprakash Chakravaty, ex-servicemen, is again very popular among the forces. He is known for giving sweet surprises. One such was when he was Thane CP. He convened a meeting of the all the senior officers of the district and called a writer constable from the Ramnagar Police Station for the meeting. Without any one’s knowledge he called the constable to the dais to felicitated him for sincerity and dedication and told the audience to follow his example.
The orderly rooms of Chakravarty were a great relief for the staff. The constables seeking transfers for reasons of convenience were shown a map of the district and the chart of availability and were accordingly given postings. Such transparency and affectionate approach was not shown by any CP in Thane district until then. One CP who went on to endear himself to his colleagues as well as the population of Thane was affectionate and ever smiling. D Shivanandan. His concern for the policemen down the line translated into real action and health and counseling clinics for were set up for the first time for the ordinary constable. The population of Thane as well as Mumbai was glad to have an officer who finally had drastically reduced the crime rate. Weather Virk or Chakravarty, the force has all reasons to get delighted as the woes of the lower cadres will soon be over.
The High Court order setting aside the appointment of AN Roy, can be viewed as a welcome precedent to prevent any politically influenced arbitrary appointments in future. This will also increase the level of confidence in the police force that could well do without outside interference

A frightening story of hate and deliberate mayhem






ON 18 DECEMBER 2010, a team of CBI sleuths escorted an elderly Bengali man Naba Kumar Sarkar, 59 — popularly known as Swami Aseemanand — from Tihar jail to the Tis Hazari court in Delhi, where he was produced before metropolitan magistrate Deepak Dabas. Aseemanand is the key accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast that killed nine people. This was his second court appearance in a span of little over 48 hours. On 16 December, Aseemanand had requested the magistrate to record his confession about his involvement in a string of terror attacks. He stated that he was making the confession without any fear, force, coercion or inducement. In accordance with the law, the magistrate asked Aseemanand to reflect over his decision and sent him to judicial custody for two days — away from any police interference or influence.On 18 December, Aseemanand returned, resolute. The magistrate asked everybody except his stenographer to leave his chamber. “I know I can be sentenced to the death penalty but I still want to make the confession,” Aseemanand said.
Over the next five hours, in an unprecedented move, Aseemanand laid bare an explosive story about the involvement of a few Hindutva leaders, including himself, in planning and executing a series of gruesome terror attacks. Over the past few years, several pieces of the Hindutva terror puzzle have slowly been falling into place — each piece corroborating and validating what has gone before. First, the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Dayanand Pandey, Lt Col Shrikant Purohit and others in 2008. The seizure of 37 audio tapes from Pandey’s laptop that featured all these people discussing their terror activities. And most recently, the Rajasthan ATS’ chargesheet on the 2007 Ajmer Sharif blast. Aseemanand’s confession, however, is likely to prove one of the most crucial pieces for investigative agencies.
For years, since the first horrific blasts in Mumbai in 1992, there has been an automatic and damaging perception amongst most Indians that there is a Muslim hand behind every terror blast. To some degree, this bias was shared by the police and intelligence agencies. Every time there was a blast, under intense pressure from both media and government to show results, instead of going in for painstaking and meticulous investigations to catch the real culprits, the security agencies would routinely round up Muslim boys linked with radical organisations and declare them to be terror masterminds. A frenzied media would swallow the story whole. Though a dangerous cocktail of anger, despair and frustration grew within the Muslim community, few Indians — except members of civil society and media organisations— dared to take stands and question the status quo. The arrest of Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Purohit dented this perception slightly, but they were mostly written off as a small and lunatic fringe. Now, Aseemanand’s confession tears much deeper through this prejudice.
‘I know I can be sentenced with the death penalty but I still want to make this confession,’ Swami Aseemanand told the magistrate
 

According to him, it was not Muslim boys but a team of RSS pracharaks who exploded bombs in Malegaon in 2006 and 2008, on the Samjhauta Express in 2007, in Ajmer Sharif in 2007 and Mecca Masjid in 2007. Apart from the tragic loss of innocent lives in these blasts, what makes this admission doubly disturbing is that, in keeping with their habitual practice, scores of Muslim boys were wrongly picked up by the Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra Police, in collusion with sections of the Intelligence Bureau, and tortured and jailed for these blasts — accentuating the shrill paranoia about a vast and homegrown Islamist terror network. Many of these boys were acquitted after years in jail; some are still languishing inside, their youth and future destroyed, their families reduced to penury.
In a curious twist, however, in one of those inexplicable human experiences that no one can account for, according to Aseemanand, it was an encounter with one of these jailed Muslim boys that triggered a momentous emotional transformation in him, forcing him to confront his conscience and make amends. This is what Aseemanand told the judge: “Sir, when I was lodged in Chanchalguda district jail in Hyderabad, one of my co-inmates was Kaleem. During my interaction with Kaleem I learnt that he was previously arrested in the Mecca Masjid bomb blast case and he had to spend about oneand- a-half years in prison. During my stay in jail, Kaleem helped me a lot and used to serve me by bringing water, food, etc for me. I was very moved by Kaleem’s good conduct and my conscience asked me to do prayschit (penance) by making a confessional statement so that real culprits can be punished and no innocent has to suffer.”
At this point, the magistrate asked his stenographer to leave so the confession could continue without restraint. Tell-all evidence? A photocopy of Swami Aseemanand’s 42-page confession before the magistrate .In a signed statement written in Hindi that runs into 42 pages — and which is in Media's possession — Aseemanand then proceeded to unravel the inner workings of the Hindutva terror network. According to him, it was not just a rump group like the ultra-right wing organisation Abhinav Bharat that engineered blasts but, shockingly, RSS national executive member Indresh Kumar who allegedly handpicked and financed some RSS pracharaks to carry out terror attacks.
“Indreshji met me at Shabri Dham (Aseemanand’s ashram in the Dangs district of Gujarat) sometime in 2005,” Aseemanand told the magistrate. “He was accompanied by many top RSS functionaries. He told me that exploding bombs was not my job and instead told me to focus on the tribal welfare work assigned to me by the RSS. He said he had deputed Sunil Joshi for this job (terror attacks) and he would extend Joshi whatever help was required.” Aseemanand further narrated how Indresh financed Joshi for his terror activities and provided him men to plant bombs. Aseemanand also confessed to his own role in the terror plots and how he had motivated a bunch of RSS pracharaks and other Hindu radicals to carry out terror strikes at Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer. (TEHELKA tried contacting Indresh several times for his side of the story. He said he would call back but didn’t.)
While evidence of the involvement of RSS pracharaks in the Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts has been growing with every new arrest, Aseemanand’s confession is the first direct evidence of the involvement of Hindutva extremists in the 2006 Malegaon blasts and the Samjhauta Express blast. The evidence — both, direct and indirect — pieced together by the CBI shows that the broad terror conspiracy to target Muslims and their places of religious worship was hatched around 2001.
Three RSS pracharaks from Madhya Pradesh — Sunil Joshi, Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange — were apparently at the core of this conspiracy. As the three became more audacious in their terror ambitions they started inducting like-minded Hindutva radicals from other states, mainly Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. While the new entrants were mostly from the RSS, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, some members of fringe saffron groups like Abhinav Bharat, Jai Vande Matram and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram also joined the fray.
However, Joshi, Kalsangra and Dange took the precaution of not sharing too many details with members outside the core group. Joshi strictly followed the doctrine of division of work on a ‘need-tok-now’ basis, with each member knowing only his part of the job.
Aseemanand, who ran a Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Dang, first came in contact with Sunil Joshi in 2003 but it was only in March 2006 that he became actively involved in the terror plot.
It was the spirited investigation into the 2008 Malegaon blast by Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare that first blew the lid off this broad Hindutva terror conspiracy. Karkare arrested 11 Hindutva radicals, including Lt Col Purohit, who was attached with the military intelligence unit at Nashik; Dayanand Pandey, a self-styled religious guru who ran an ashram named Sharda Peeth in Jammu and Sadhvi Pragya, an ABVP leader turned into an ascetic, for their role in the 2008 Malegaon blast.
But Karkare’s sudden and ironic killing at the hands of Islamist jihadis in the Mumbai 26/11 attack derailed the saffron terror investigation. The Maharashtra ATS under its new chief KP Raghuvanshi failed to arrest Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange and instead passed them off as minor players in the chargesheet.
The investigation picked up pace again in May 2010 with the arrest of two RSS pracharaks — Devendra Gupta and Lokesh Sharma — by the Rajasthan ATS which was probing the Ajmer blast case. Gupta was the RSS Vibagh Pracharak of Muzaffarnagar, Bihar. He provided logistical support to Joshi, Kalsangra and Dange and harboured the latter two in RSS offices while they were on the run from agencies.
Lokesh Sharma was a RSS worker close to Joshi. He purchased the two Nokia phones that were used to trigger bombs at Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif. It is Sharma’s interrogation that revealed for the first time that RSS national executive member Indresh Kumar was a key figure in the terror conspiracy. The joint investigation of the Rajasthan ATS and CBI, in fact, went on to reveal that, except Pragya Singh Thakur, all those who were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in 2008 were actually fringe players while the core group comprising Indresh Kumar, Kalsangra and Dange allegedly held the key to the full terror plot.
In June 2010, the CBI examined a witness named Bharat Riteshwar, a resident of district Valsad in Gujarat and a close associate of Swami Aseemanand. Riteshwar told the CBI that Sunil Joshi was a protégé of Indresh and had his approval and logistical support for carrying out terror attacks.
On 19 November 2010 the CBI cracked down on a hideout in Haridwar and arrested Swami Aseemanand, who had been a fugitive for over two years since Sadhvi Pragya’s arrest in October 2008. His arrest unlocked many more pieces.
NABA KUMAR — alias Swami Aseemanand — was originally from Kamaarpukar village in Hooghly district in West Bengal — the birthplace of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. In 1971, after completing his BSc (honours) from Hooghly, Naba Kumar went to Bardman district to pursue a master’s degree in science. Though he was involved with RSS activities from school, it was during his post-graduation years that Naba Kumar became an active RSS member. In 1977, he started working full-time with the RSS-run Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Purulia and Bankura districts. In 1981, his guru Swami Parmanand rechristened him as Swami Aseemanand.
From 1988 to 1993, he served with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram at Andaman and Nicobar islands. Between 1993 and 1997, he toured across India to deliver sermons on Hindu religion among the tribals. In 1997, he settled down in the Dangs district in Gujarat and started a tribal welfare organisation called Shabri Dham. Aseemanand was known in the area for his rabid anti-minority speeches and his relentless campaign against Christian missionaries. Aseemanand is seen as being close to the RSS leadership. In the past, leaders like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, former RSS chief KS Sudarshan and current chief Mohan Bhagwat have attended religious functions organised by him at Shabri Dham.
While Aseemanand was known for his vitriolic anti-minority positions, according to his confession, it was the heinous massacre of Hindu devotees at Akshardham temple by Islamist suicide bombers in 2002 that was the first real kindle for their retaliatory terror attacks.
“The Muslim terrorists started attacking Hindu temples in 2002,” Aseemanand said. “This caused great concern and anger in me. I used to share my concerns about the growing menace of Islamic terrorism with Bharat Riteshwar of Valsad.”
In 2003, Aseemanand came in contact with Sunil Joshi and Pragya Singh Thakur. He would often discuss Islamist terrorism with them as well. Finally, according to him, it was the terror attack on Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi in March 2006 which was the real flashpoint for them.
“In March 2006, Pragya Thakur, Sunil Joshi, Bharat Riteshwar and I decided to give a befitting reply to the Sankatmochan blasts,” Aseemanand told the magistrate.
Aseemanand gave Rs. 25,000 to Joshi to arrange the necessary logistics for the blasts. He also sent Joshi and Riteshwar to Gorakhpur to seek assistance from firebrand BJP MP Yogi Adityanath. In April 2006, Joshi apparently held a hush-hush meeting with the Adityanath, infamous for his rabid anti-Muslim speeches. But Aseemanand says, “Joshi came back and told me that Adityanath was not of much help.”
However, this did not deter Aseemanand. He went ahead with his plans.
In June 2006, Aseemanand, Riteshwar, Sadhvi Pragya and Joshi again met at Riteshwar’s house in Valsad. It proved to be a chilling one, with far-reaching consequences. Joshi, for the first time, brought four associates with him — Dange, Kalsangra, Lokesh Sharma and Ashok alias Amit.
“I told everybody that bomb ka jawab bomb se dena chahiye, (I told everyone we should answer bombs with bombs),” says Aseemanand. “At that meeting I realised Joshi and his group were already doing something on the subject,” he adds.
“After the combined meeting,” Aseemanand says, “Joshi, Pragya, Riteshwar and I huddled together for a separate meeting. I suggested that 80 percent of the people of Malegaon were Muslims and we should explode the first bomb in Malegaon itself. I also said that during the Partition, the Nizam of Hyderabad had wanted to go with Pakistan so Hyderabad was also a fair target. Then I said that since Hindus also throng the Ajmer Sharif Dargah in large numbers we should also explode a bomb in Ajmer which would deter the Hindus from going there. I also suggested the Aligarh Muslim University as a terror target.”
According to Aseemanand everybody agreed to target these places.
“In the meeting,” Aseemanand continues, “Joshi suggested that it was basically Pakistanis who travel on the Samjhauta Express train that runs between India and Pakistan and therefore we should attack the train as well. Joshi took the responsibility of targeting Samjhauta himself and said that the chemicals required for the blasts would be arranged by Dange.”
Aseemanand’s confession goes on in grave detail. “Joshi said three teams would be constituted to execute the blasts. One team would arrange finance and logistics. The second team would arrange for the explosives. And the third team would plant the bombs. He also said that the members of one team should not know members from the other two teams. So even if one gets arrested the others would remain safe,” Aseemanand told the magistrate.
Hate and anger had slipped off the edge into mayhem.
‘Since Hindus throng the Ajmer Sharif Dargah we thought a bomb blast in Ajmer would deter Hindus from going there,’ the Swami said
 

ON 8 SEPTEMBER 2006, at 1.30 pm, four bombs exploded in the communally tense town of Malegaon in Maharashtra. Besides being a Friday, the Muslim festival Shab-e-barat was being observed. Three bombs went off in the compound of the Hamidiya Masjid and Bada Kabrastan. A fourth bomb exploded at Mushawart Chowk.
Out of three bombs, one was placed at the entrance gate of Hamidiya Masjid and Bada Kabrastan, the second on a bicycle parked in the parking lot situated inside the compound and the third was hung on the wall of the power supply room situated in front of Vaju Khana, inside the compound. The fourth bomb went off in the crowded junction of Mushawart Chowk, which was placed on a bicycle, near an electric pole. The attack was meticulously planned; the bombs exploded in quick succession. Thirty one Muslims were killed; over 312 were injured.
In a suspiciously swift investigation, the Maharashtra ATS arraigned nine Malegaon Muslims within 90 days. Eight of these were members of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the outlawed radical Muslim outfit. Another three Malegaon Muslims were shown absconding. Stringent provisions of the draconian Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were invoked.
On 21 December 2006, the same day that the ATS filed the chargesheet against the nine Malegaon Muslims, the Maharashtra government asked the CBI to take over the probe. In effect, the CBI was presented with a fait accompli: the case had already been so-called solved and the accused had been chargesheeted.
A year ago, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet but failed to produce any material evidence. For over four years, these nine Malegaon Muslims have been languishing in prison. Aseemanand’s confession now seems proof that the boys were innocent and had been arrested merely to deflect criticism and create a false sense of security among Indian citizens that the blast cases were being “solved”. The real mastermind, according to Aseemanand, was Sunil Joshi. And it was Aseemanand himself who had persuaded Joshi to explode bombs in Malegaon.
This is what he told the magistrate. “Joshi came to see me at Shabri Dham on Diwali in 2006. The Malegaon blasts had already happened. Sunil told me the blasts were carried out by our men. I said the newspaper reports had mentioned that Muslims were behind the blasts and a few Muslims had also been arrested. Sunil assured me the blasts were carried out by him but he refused to reveal the identity of our men who had executed the blasts.”
ON 18 February 2007, on the eve of the then Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri’s visit to India to carry forward the peace dialogue, two powerful bombs went off around midnight in two coaches of the cross-border Samjhauta Express, running between Delhi and Lahore. The train had reached Diwana near Panipat, 80 km north of Delhi. The coaches turned into an inferno. The third bomb placed in another coach failed to detonate. Sixty eight people were killed. Dozens were injured. The peace dialogue received a big setback.
Investigation revealed that three suitcases filled with detonators, timers, iron pipes containing explosives and bottles filled with petrol and kerosene had been smuggled into the three coaches.
The needle of suspicion veered immediately to Pakistani extremists. Depending upon which investigating agency you were speaking to, Pakistan-based terror outfits mainly Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HUJI) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)were blamed for the blasts. Even the US State Department called the terror attack a joint operation of the LeT and HUJI. The Haryana Police tracked down some of the material used in the blasts as being procured from a market in Indore but the trail soon went cold.
In November 2008, the Maharashtra ATS told a court in Nashik that Lt Col Purohit had procured 60 kg of RDX from Jammu & Kashmir in 2006 and a part of it was suspected to have been used in the Samjhauta Express blasts. But the ATS subsequently failed to back its claims with any evidence and was forced to retract. The Haryana cops travelled to Mumbai and interrogated Purohit and other Malegaon accused but could not find any evidence that could link them to the Samjhauta blasts.
In July 2010, the Samjhauta blast probe was handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA). Though it still leaves some questions and loose ends, Aseemanand’s confession now joins many other dots in relation to the Samjhauta Express.
The massacre of Hindu devotees at the Akshardham temple by Islamist bombers in 2002 was the first real kindle for the retaliatory attacks “In February 2007,” Aseemanand told the magistrate, “Riteshwar and Joshi came on a motorbike to a Lord Shiva temple in a place called Balpur. As we had fixed this place for our meeting, I was already there, waiting for the two. Joshi told me in the next two days there would be a piece of good news and I should keep a tab on the newspapers. After the meeting I came back to Shabri Dham and Joshi and Riteshwar went their way. After a couple of days I went to meet Riteshwar at his Valsad residence. Joshi and Pragya were already present there. The Samjhauta Express blasts had happened. I asked Joshi how he was present there while Samjhauta had already happened in Haryana. Joshi replied that the blasts were done by his men.”
“In the same meeting,” Aseemanand continues, “Joshi took Rs. 40,000 from me to carry out the blasts in Hyderabad. A few months later, Joshi telephoned me and told me to keep a tab on the newspapers as some good news was in the offing. In a few days the news of the Mecca Masjid blast appeared in the papers. After 7-8 days, Joshi came to Shabri Dham and brought a Telegu newspaper with him. It had a picture of the blast. I told Joshi that in the papers it had appeared that some Muslim boys had been rounded up for the blast. But Joshi replied it was done by our people.”
LIKE IN the case of the 2006 Malegaon blast, 17 May 2007 was a Friday. At 1.30 pm, as over 4,000 Muslims assembled to offer their Friday prayers at the iconic Mecca Masjid, situated near the Charminar in the old city of Hyderabad, a bomb went off near the Wazu Khana (fountain) meant for doing wazu (ablution before prayers) inside the mosque.
Another IED contained in a blue rexine bag was found hanging near the door-way at the northern end of the mosque. Miraculously, this bomb had not exploded. With no substantive clue emerging from the blast investigation, in a cynical move, the Hyderabad police launched a mop-up operation against local Muslim boys, who were associated with Ahle Hadess, the doggedly fundamentalist sect among Sunni Muslims. Friends and family members of some known local Muslim extremists like Shahid Bilal, who had fled to Pakistan, were also rounded up. In a span of two weeks, over three dozen boys from Malakpet and Saidabaad were picked up and tortured. However, when the police failed to link them to the Mecca Masjid case, they registered three separate bogus cases and implicated the detainees in these cases.
On 9 June 2007, the CBI took over the investigation into the Mecca Masjid case.
A few months later, on 11 October 2007, during the month of Ramzan, at 6.15 pm, as Muslim devotees had begun their iftaar at Ajmer Sharif dargah, a powerful bomb went off near a tree in the compound, killing three people and injuring over a dozen. Investigators found one more unexploded IED at the site.
Swami says, ‘Joshi told me to keep a tab on the papers as some good news was in the offing. Soon after, news of the Mecca Masjid blast appeared’

According to Aseemanand, this blast had been executed by Muslim boys provided by Indresh Kumar. “A couple of days after the Ajmer blast Joshi came to see me. He was accompanied by two men named Raj and Mehul who had also visited Shabri Dham on previous occasions. Joshi claimed his men had perpetrated the blast and he was also present at Ajmer Dargah at the time of the blast. He said that Indresh had provided him two Muslim boys to plant the bomb. I told Joshi that if the Muslim boys get caught, Indresh would get exposed. I also told Joshi that Indresh might get him killed and told him to stay at Shabri Dham. Joshi then told me that Raj and Mehul were wanted in the Baroda Best Bakery case (12 Muslims were killed by rioters in Best Bakery in Gujarat 2002). I told Joshi not to keep Raj and Mehul at the ashram as it would not be safe for them to stay in Gujarat. Joshi, along with the two men, left for Dewas the next day,” said Aseemanand.
Barely two months later, on 29 December 2007, in a sudden twist, Aseemanand’s fears came true. Sunil Joshi was mysteriously murdered outside his house in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. His family claimed he had been murdered by his own organisation. After her arrest, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur also suggested this. But the Madhya Pradesh Police failed to solve the case and filed a closure report in the court.
At the end of December 2010 though, acting on fresh leads, the Madhya Pradesh police finally accepted that Joshi had been murdered by his own friends in the RSS. They charged Mayank, Harshad Solanki, Mehul and Mohan from Gujarat, Anand Raj Katare from Indore and Vasudev Parmar from Dewas with Joshi’s murder. While Mehul and Mohan are still on the run, Solanki was brought before the Dewas court where he confessed to the murder. However, even these arrests don’t join all the dots. The police claim internal rivalry as the motive for the murder. The CBI, though, believes the real motive behind Joshi’s murder was to silence him. Joshi knew too much about the terror conspiracy and his masters were perhaps wary that they might get exposed.
                ABDUL KALEEM, 21
The Muslim boy who triggered an unlikely conversion in jail
Kaleem, a cell phone seller, was arrested and tortured in 2007 for a blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. He spent a year-and-half in jail before being acquitted. Soon after, he was back in jail on another charge, when he met Swami Aseemanand. The Swami was struck by the boy’s kindness. When he heard that Kaleem was blamed for a blast that he and his comrades had done, he was profoundly affected and decided to confess as an act of penance.

Sunil Joshi’s murder leaves many unanswered questions. If he was one of the key figures in the terror conspiracy, as many of those arrested testify that he was, why would his comrades want to bump him off? If he was a protégé of Indresh Kumar, acting on his orders and with his sanction, why would his mentor want him dead? What could have created a rift or fallout between all of them? The murder suggests a murky and inexplicable factionalism within the sinister grouping.
With Joshi dead and much of Aseemanand’s confession based on things Joshi had told him about the blasts, it might seem that Aseemanand’s confession runs thin in certain portions and is, therefore, of uneven consequence. But Joshi was not the only piece in the puzzle. Aseemanand’s confession is powerful because it implicates himself at every juncture and points to a network of Hindutva pracharaks, who not only participated in the terror plots but were moved around and sheltered by sections of the organisation while they were on the run. Investigators believe that the arrests of Kalsangra and Dange would provide the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Joshi’s death didn’t mean the end of the horrific blasts — at least from the ultra-Hindutva side. The terror infrastructure he had created along with a few other RSS men continued to function.
ASEEMANAND CONFESSED coming into contact with the shadowy saffron terror outfit Abhinav Bharat in January 2007. Col Purohit was one of the founder members of the outfit. Aseemanand has confessed to proposing more terror strikes in a meeting of Abhinav Bharat held at Bhopal in April 2008. Sadhvi Pragya, Bharat Riteshwar, Col Purohit and Dayanand Pandey were also present in the meeting. “I participated in many Abhinav Bharat meetings and proposed to carry out more terror strikes,” Aseemanand told the magistrate.
On 29 September 2008, horror struck again. During Islam’s holy month of Ramzan, an IED went off at Bhikku Chowk, a Muslim neighbourhood in Malegaon. The bomb was concealed in a motorcycle parked in front of a locked office of SIMI. Given the paranoia that had grown around Islamist terror, it had become an accepted maxim that members of SIMI were behind every blast. No proof was ever required. Placing a bomb in front of their office, therefore, was an act of deadly symbolism for the Hindutva outfits.
A similar bomb blast was triggered almost simultaneously hundreds of miles away in a small town called Modasa in Gujarat. Like in Malegaon, the blast took place in a Muslim colony named Sukka Bazaar, outside a mosque when special Ramzan prayers were being offered. Like in Malegaon, the bomb was again concealed in a motorcycle. The two blasts were separated by a gap of five minutes.
The Malgeaon blast killed seven Muslims, including a three-year-old boy. The Modasa blast resulted in the death of a 15-year-old boy. Several others were injured.
‘I told my comrades that since the Nizam had wanted to opt for Pakistan during Partition, Hyderabad was also a fair target for us,’ the Swami said .It is a measure of the deep-seated bias that had crept into the Indian justice system that even when deadly blasts went off in the midst of Muslim neighbourhoods and mosques, Muslim boys were still automatically blamed for them. It was beyond anyone’s imagination that Hindutva groups could be behind the inhuman acts.
But as Aseemanand says, “Sometime in October 2008, Dange phoned me and said he wanted to come to Shabri Dham and stay there for a few days. I told him that since I was setting out for Nadiad (Gujarat), it would not be a good idea for him to stay there in my absence. Then Dange requested me to pick him up from a place called Vyara and drop him to Baroda which was on the way to Nadiad. I picked up Dange from Vyara bus stop in my Santro car. He was accompanied by Ramji Kalsangra. Both were carrying two or three bags stuffed with some heavy objects. They told me they were coming from Maharashtra. I dropped them at Rajpipla junction at Baroda. I later realised that it was just a day after the Malegaon blast,” said Aseemanand, before concluding his statement. His confession further corroborates the evidence put together by Karkare.
After the Maharashtra ATS arrested Sadhvi Pragya in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast, Aseemanand went absconding. He was finally arrested by the CBI from Haridwar on 19 November 2010.
THE EMERGENCE of Hindutva terror does not leach away the horror of Islamist terror attacks on places like the Akshardham temple, Sankatmochan mandir and German Bakery in Pune, amongst others. But Aseemanand’s confession will raise many uncomfortable questions for the RSS. It is no one’s case that the actions of a few tars an entire organisation. But there are urgent questions the RSS needs to confront within itself. And answer to the nation.
Given the growing evidence about the involvement of RSS pracharaks in a series of terror blasts, how will the RSS leadership respond?

Many of these terror blasts display a high degree of sophistication in the planning and devices used, with RDX and complex bomb designs being deployed in several of them. Given that most of the foot-soldiers accused for these blasts are of very humble backgrounds, is it possible that they could execute these blasts without support and sanction from the top? Given the strictly hierarchical and disciplined nature of the organisation, is it possible that they were acting without the knowledge of their superiors? Most crucially, given the gathering evidence about the involvement of several RSS pracharaks and other affiliates in this series of terror blasts, how will the RSS leadership respond? If it is true that some members of their organisation have turned rogue, will they seek the most stringent punishment for them? The Hindutva worldview may be politically opposed to minority rights, but will it go far enough to watch some of its members drag the country further down the suicidal course of competitive terrorism between Islamist and Hindutva extremists? Or will it opt for the saner option of a cleansing within.Unlike police interrogation reports or confessions, under clause 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), confessions before a magistrate are considered legally admissible evidence. Aseemanand’s statement, therefore, is extremely crucial and will have serious ramifications.

ABDUL KALEEMABDUL KALEEM, 21
The Muslim boy who triggered an unlikely conversion in jail

Kaleem, a cell phone seller, was arrested and tortured in 2007 for a blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. He spent a year-and-half in jail before being acquitted. Soon after, he was back in jail on another charge, when he met Swami Aseemanand. The Swami was struck by the boy’s kindness. When he heard that Kaleem was blamed for a blast that he and his comrades had done, he was profoundly affected and decided to confess as an act of penance.
RAJESH MISHRASUDHAKAR DHAR DWIVEDI ALIAS DAYANAND PANDEY
RAJESH MISHRA, an RSS activist and owner of a foundry in Pithampura, near Mhow. He gave 15 cast iron shells in 2001 to Joshi, who used them during failed bomb blasts at Ijtema (a Muslim gathering) in Bhopal in 2002. He was also a co-accused along with Joshi in the murder of local Congress workers.SUDHAKAR DHAR DWIVEDI ALIAS DAYANAND PANDEY, he ran an ashram named Shardapeeth in Jammu. He played the role of an ideologue to those involved in the 2008 Malegaon blasts. He was in the habit of recording the meetings he would have with Abhinav Bharat members on his laptop
HINDUTVA’S DEADLY PLATOON
The men who allegedly vowed to match Islamist terror with Hindutva terror: bomb for bomb
INDRESH KUMARSWAMI ASEEMANANDSUNIL JOSHI
INDRESH KUMAR, a member of the RSS Central Committee. Three accused, Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma and Shivam Dhakad, and one witness, Bharat Riteshwar, have stated before the CBI that Indresh had mentored and financed the RSS pracharaks behind Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid terror strikes.SWAMI ASEEMANAND, the head of the RSS-affiliated Van Vasi Kalyan Ashram, Shabri Dham in Dangs, Gujarat. He has confessed to playing the role of an ideologue to the terrorists. Besides presiding over terror meetings held in Dangs and Valsad in Gujarat, he also selected Malgeaon, Ajmer Sharif and Hyderabad as terror targets.SUNIL JOSHI, a former RSS pracharak of Mhow district. He was expelled from the RSS after being accused in the murder of two Congress activists in Madhya Pradesh in 2006. Along with a few RSS pracharaks and Hindu radicals from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu and Jharkhand, he formed an inter-state terror infrastructure.
SANDEEP DANGERAM CHANDRA KALSANGRA ALIAS RAMJISHIVAM DHAKHAD
SANDEEP DANGE, a senior RSS pracharak from Shajapur district near Indore. Along with Joshi and Ramchandra Kalsangra, he was a key figure in the longrunning conspiracy to bomb Muslim places of worship and Muslim neigbourhoods. He is currently absconding.RAM CHANDRA KALSANGRA ALIAS RAMJI, an RSS pracharak from Madhya Pradesh. He carried out terror strikes in different places between December 2002 and 29 September 2008 (when bombs went off simultaneously in Malegaon and Modasa. He has been absconding since October 2008.SHIVAM DHAKHAD, an RSS activist and associate of accused Joshi and Ramji Kalsangra. Along with other RSS pracharaks, he allegedly took training in bomb-making in 2005. He also did a reconnaissance of Aligarh Muslim University and residence of Justice UC Banerjee (chairman of the Godhra commission) for terror strikes.
LT COL SHRIKANT PUROHITDEVENDRA GUPTALOKESH SHARMA
LT COL SHRIKANT PUROHIT, a founding member of terror outfit Abhinav Bharat. He was posted with the military intelligence unit at Nashik. He allegedly tried to draft in other army officers in his terror outfit. He is accused of supplying RDX for the 2008 Malegaon blasts.DEVENDRA GUPTA, the RSS vibhag pracharak of Muzaffarnagar, Bihar. He provided logistics to Joshi, Kalsangra and Dange for terror strikes. He also harboured Kalsangra and Dange in RSS offices while they were on the run.LOKESH SHARMA, an RSS worker and close associate of Joshi, Dange and Kalsangra. He purchased the two Nokia handsets that were used to trigger the bombs at Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif.
BHARAT RATESWAR ALIAS BHARATBHAIYOGI ADITYANATH,DR ASHOK VARSHNAY
BHARAT RATESWAR ALIAS BHARATBHAI, the head of Sri Vivekananda Kendra Sansthan in Valsad district, Gujarat. As a close associate of Aseemanand, he participated in several terror meetings held at his residence and also at Shabri Dham ashram. He also travelled with Joshi to Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh providing logistics for the blasts.YOGI ADITYANATH, BJP MP from Gorakhpur. He was contacted by Aseemanand to provide funds for terrorist activities. Joshi held a hush-hush meeting with him at his Gorakhpur residence in 2006, at the time when the conspiracy to carry out multiple blasts was underway. According to Aseemanand, he didn’t give much support. But he continues to be under suspicion.DR ASHOK VARSHNAY, RSS prant pracharak of Kanpur. He sheltered key terror accused and RSS pracharak Devendra Gupta at Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Vishwa Mangal Gau Gram Yatra in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, while Gupta was on the run. Varshnay has told investigators that he had shielded Gupta at the behest of Indresh Kumar.