1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout

The 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout was a gunbattle that occurred on 16 November 1991 at the Lokhandwala Complex, Bombay (now Mumbai), between seven gangsters led by Maya Dolas and members of the Mumbai police and the ATS led by the then Additional Commissioner of Police, Aftab Ahmed Khan. The four hour long shootout was termed as India's "first daylight encounter" and was videographed and conducted in full view of the public.[1][2][3] It ended in the deaths of all seven gangsters, including Maya Dolas, Dilip Buwa and Anil Pawar.

Prelude



Mugshot of D-Company gangster, Maya Dolas. It was crossed with an "X" after his death, signifying that he was eliminated.
In the late 1980s, the Bombay underworld was under the firm control of the D-Company, headed by Dawood Ibrahim. From his base in Dubai, Ibrahim controlled underworld activities through his various lieutenants. Among the most prominent was Mahindra Dolas, a gangster who known was more popularly by his nickname Maya. Dolas had got his start running several successful extortion rackets for the Indian National Congress criminal-politician, Ashok Joshi's gang at Kanjurmarg. On 3 December 1988, Joshi was killed at the Bombay-Pune road near Panvel by a 15-man hit squad led by Chhota Rajan at Ibrahim's orders.[4]
After Joshi's murder, Maya later broke out of the Ashok Joshi gang, and formed his own gang. He then convinced notorious Joshi gang sharpshooter Dilip Buwa to switch sides and together on 17 September 1989, they led a stealth attack against the Joshi gang in Kanjurmarg, in which five people were killed. This brought them into favour with Dawood Ibrahim, who was gunning for the Joshi gang after the killing of his pointman Satish Raje.[5] Dolas and Buwa were a feared duo and soon began a steady rise within the ranks of the D-Company.[5] They also conducted extortion activities on Ibrahim's behalf. However, they were also fugitives on the run, with ongoing arrest warrants for them. Maya Dolas, had in fact escaped from prison a few years prior to the shootout.[6]
[edit]Shootout

A news reel of Star TV interview with ACP Aftab Ahmed Khan shows parts of the shootout as captured in 1991[7]. According to the former Additional Commissioner of Police Aftab Ahmed Khan, the ATS received a tip-off from a police informer that Maya Dolas and his gang were hiding in the A wing, flats 002 and 003 in the Swati building at the Lokhandwala Complex, a posh upper middle class residential area. The informer reported that they were armed and were waiting for a few builders who would be coming in the evening. The apartment in which they were hiding belonged to Gopal Rajwani, a fugitive gangster from Ulhasnagar and associate of Dawood Ibrahim.[2] The ATS formed three teams for the task of arresting the fugitives and taking them into custody. One was for reconnaissance, while the other two cordoned off the spot.[2]
What happened next is subject to dispute and controversy. According to the official police version, Officer M.I. Qavi was the first to go there. Qavi spotted Gopal Rajwani at the main gate, but did not arrest him for fear of surprising the gangsters hidden inside the building. On the other hand, Rajwani did not recognise the police officers who were in their plain clothes and escaped without any incident. The ATS officers Sunil Deshmukh, Z.M. Gharal and Qavi were the first to walk into the ground floor apartment where seven of them were watching TV. When they burst into the apartment, six of the gangsters, including Dolas, raised their arms in surprise.[2]
Dilip Buwa, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, opened fire on the officers. Officer Gharal, who was not wearing body armour, was shot in the chest twice, puncturing his lungs. Qavi was shot in the elbow.[2] Buwa's brazen attack was soon followed by the others. The ground floor apartment had two doors, one opening into the compound and the other to the building's staircase. While the police officers came out from the front door, the gangsters escaped into the interiors using the stairs.[2]
Khan used the loudspeakers to request residents to go to the kitchen and lie on the floor, to avoid accidentally getting hit by a stray bullet. He also asked the gangsters to surrender, even when half the force was surrounding the building. The gangsters refused to surrender and responded with bullets and profanities. In the ensuing shootout, the police used 450 rounds of ammo. Every other wall on all sides of the building was rained heavily with bullets. At the end, all seven gangsters were killed, with the last gangster being shot down at the terrace of Swati building.[2] Although post shootout media coverage made out Maya Dolas to be the main shooter, according to Khan, in reality it was Dilip Buwa. Khan stated that Dolas just kept hurling abuses from inside the building, while the real bullets were being pumped by Buwa:[2]
"Maya Dolas was just reckless and foul mouthed. Dilip Buwa was cold blooded. Unlike Dolas, nothing could divert Buwa's attention when his fingers were on the trigger. He was a mentor to Chhota Rajan."
[edit]Aftermath

The shootout resulted in a great deal of controversy for the ATS. The ATS was suspected of staging a fake encounter and subsequently dragged to court. A magisterial inquiry was ordered as questions were raised on the use of 450 rounds of ammo and the need for a “daylight” encounter.[2] The ATS was also charged with walking away with Rs 70 lakh which belonged to Maya Dolas. Petitions alleging corruption were also filed against Khan.[3] However, the trial ended with Khan and other involving ATS officers acquittal.[2]
The fugitive underworld don Chotta Rajan was also extremely vocal in criticizing the police operation as a "fake encounter". According to Chotta Rajan, the encounter was planned by his former boss Dawood Ibrahim, when they were allies, as part of a campaign to downsize Rajan's gang and curtail his power. He further claimed that the ground level co-ordination for the operation was conducted by a Dawood Ibrahim subordinate, Samir Shah. He stated that Maya Dolas had expressed his willingness to surrender, but the police insisted on eliminating him.[1]
Khan dismissed the allegations as ridiculous, claiming that Dolas and the others were in no mood to surrender. He asserted that the operation was videographed and it was conducted in full view of the public. He further stated that a public interest litigation claiming that the encounter was stage-managed was dismissed by the Bombay high court. The court even dubbed it "vexatious litigation".[1] He also justified the shootout, by stating that it had a demoralising effect on the Bombay underworld. In the aftermath of the Lokhandwala encounter, three dreaded shooters fled the city. While Subash Sawant and Subash Singh Thakur fled to Nepal, Anil Parab fled to Dubai.[2]
While the Lokhandwala shootout made Khan famous, he later faced criticism about the way he handled the Bombay Riots under his jurisdiction. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena protested his alleged partisan attitude towards their workers in the riots. In 1995, when the BJP-Shiv Sena government came to power in Maharashtra, Khan promotion to the rank of Additional Director General of Police was stalled and he was transferred to Nagpur.[3] Frustrated at this insignificant posting, Khan retired and set up a security agency in 1996, which his son now runs.[6] He also became a politician and joined the Janata Dal, with whom he stood elections in the Mumbai North-west constituency in 1998.[3]
Gopal Rajwani, the gangster who had inadvertently managed to avoid being caught in the crossfire, returned to Ulhasnagar and joined politics as a Shiv Sena member in 1995. He was eventually shot dead by four of rival mobster Pappu Kalani's henchmen on 24 January 2000 in the premises of the First Class Magistrate's court there.[8]
[edit]In popular culture

Main article: Shootout at Lokhandwala
The infamous shootout was immortalised in the 2007 movie Shootout at Lokhandwala, starring Sanjay Dutt as ACP Aftab Ahmed Khan, Vivek Oberoi as Maya Dolas, Tushar Kapoor as Dilip Buwa and Amrita Singh as Maya's mother Ratnaprabha Dolas. Ironically, the movie also featured the real-life former ACP Aftab Ahmed Khan in a cameo role as his superior, the police commissioner S. Ramamurthy.[9]
The film was however, criticised by underworld don Chotta Rajan on grounds that it grossly distorted the facts. In a May 2007 interview, he told the Times of India newspaper that the encounter was fake, while the film sought to depict it as an actual event. He stated that he would take it to the film's producer Sanjay Gupta, although when questioned, Gupta refused to pass any comment.[1] The film makers were unable to film the shootout scene in the real Swati building, a set worth 50 lakhs was constructed in Film City which consisted of seven buildings and roads and trees and made it look exactly like how Swati building was in 1991.[10]

Chotta Rajan

Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chotta Rajan (Translation: Little Rajan) is the boss of a major crime syndicate based in India. He is a former key aide and lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim. Starting as a petty thief and bootlegger working for Rajan Nair, also known as Bada Rajan (Big Rajan). Chotta Rajan took over the reins of Bada Rajan's gang after Bada Rajan's murder. Later, he was affiliated with and operated at the behest of Dawood in Mumbai and eventually fled India to Dubai in 1988. He is wanted for many criminal cases that include extortion, murder, smuggling, drug trafficking and film finance. His brother is said to produce films financed by Rajan. He is also wanted in 17 murder cases and several more attempted murders.
He parted ways with Dawood Ibrahim after the latter's involvement in the 1993 terrorist attack on innocent civilians in Mumbai. Chotta Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim are now considered be arch-rivals, with a long and bloody feud between their respective crime syndicates.

Education

Chhota Rajan is a m.com.[1]
[edit]Criminal career

This Tilak Nagar (Mumbai) lad began by peddling cinema tickets in black in the 1980s. Then he met mentor Bada Rajan. Once Bada Rajan was killed, Nikalje received the throne and the title—Chhota Rajan. For a short period, Dawood Ibrahim, Rajan and Arun Gawli worked together. Then Gawli’s elder brother Papa Gawli was murdered over a drug deal and a rift formed. Rajan went to Dubai—his family is still here apart from his wife in 1989 to attend the wedding of Noora, Dawood’s brother. He never returned. With the serial blasts flinging a spanner into the works, Dawood and Rajan fell out. There were even reports that he tipped off the Research and Analysis Wing about Dawood’s network. The Dawood-Rajan party was over, the messy end coming in September 2000, with Shakeel’s attack on Rajan in his Bangkok hotel room.[2]
[edit]Split with Dawood

Rajan parted ways with Dawood Ibrahim, after the 1993 Mumbai bombings, blaming him for anti Hindu and anti national acts. It is speculated that religious differences between the two - Rajan is a Hindu and Dawood, a Muslim - contributed to the split. The break up between him and Ibrahim supposedly took place after Dawood's involvement in the 1993 bomb blast came into the spotlight and Dawood became the most wanted man in India. After the split, Rajan formed his own gang. Reports of bloody shootouts between Rajan and Dawood's hoodlums have been common since the split. In 1994, Rajan lured one of Dawood's favorites - the flamboyantly charming, yet dreaded young Pathan "narco-terrorist" Phillu Khan alias Bakhtiyar Ahmed Khan- to a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was tortured to death having being betrayed by his closest aide and sidekick Mangesh "Mangya" Pawar.
Both Phillu and Mangya were involved in the 1993 blasts as Police had filed cases on 15 March 1993 [3] alleging their involvement in the blasts.
[edit]Assassination Attempt

In September 2001, Dawood tracked down Rajan in Bangkok. Sharad Shetty, used his links with Mumbai based hotelier Vinod Shetty to track down Rajan in Bangkok,[4] Dawood's aide Chotta Shakeel then led the hit. Posing as pizza delivery men they gunned down trusted Rajan hitman Rohit Varma and his wife.[4] However their aim of killing Rajan failed, with Rajan making a dare-devil escape through the hotel's roof and fire-escape. He then recovered in the hospital and slipped away to evade capture.[citation needed]
Dawood Ibrahim confirmed the attack on telephone to rediff.com, saying Rajan tried to escape by jumping out of the window of the first-floor room where he was attacked. He, however, broke his back in the fall and was taken to hospital, the don said.
[edit]Rajan Strikes Back

This failed assassination attempt proved costly for Dawood. Chotta Rajan's associates tracked down and shot dead Vinod Shetty in 2001 in Mumbai, as well as Sunil Soans - another Dawood associate. Both Vinod and Sunil had provided information to Dawood's associates of Rajan's whereabouts.[4]
While the killings of Vinod Shetty and Sunil Soans did not significantly disrupt D-Company, on January 19, 2003, Chotta Rajan's associates then gunned down Sharad Shetty - Dawood's chief finance manager and money-laundering agent - at the India Club in Dubai.[4] This brazen killing was an emblematic of the shift of power between Dawood and Rajan. Not only was the execution in a very public setting, it was at a location that Dawood considered his operational backyard. Intelligence reports have suggested that Sharad Shetty's death was a crippling blow to D-Company, since much financial and monetary information of the crime syndicate operations managed by Sharad Shetty was never fully recovered by Dawood.[4]
While the Indian government has no overt links to Rajan, the Intelligence Bureau, India's internal intelligence agency is suspected of having passed information they collected of Dawood's operations to Chotta Rajan when they've found so to be convenient to weaken Dawood. Chotta Rajan claims himself to be a staunch Indian, while Dawood's activities post 1993 have been anti-Indian.

Bada Rajan

Rajan Mahadeo Nair[1] (Malayalam: രാജന്‍ മഹാദേവ് നായര്‍ ‍‍; died September 21, 1983), popularly known in the Mumbai underworld by his moniker Bada Rajan (literally Big Rajan) was an Indian mobster and underworld don from Mumbai, who operated from his base in the Tilaknagar neighborhood of Chembur.

Early years

Born into a Malayali Nair family in Mumbai, Rajan Nair grew up in the lower middle class locality of Tilaknagar in Chembur, a suburb in central Mumbai. Nair got involved in a life of petty crime in his childhood and subsequently acquired his nickname, Bada Rajan.[2] In the early seventies, he teamed up with a thug from the nearby Vikhroli suburb, his namesake Rajan Sadashiv Nikhalje, also known as "Chhota Rajan" (Little Rajan). They both started selling black market movie tickets at the Sahkar Cinema. Black marketing of cinema tickets was one of the main sources of income for Mumbai gangs between the years 1970 and 1985.[3] It was also during this time that Bada Rajan formed his own gang with Chhota Rajan as his chief lieutenant. Badda Rajan served as a great mentor to Chhota Rajan and the two would remain close friends until his death.[2][4]
[edit]Underworld rackets and alliances

From black marketing movie tickets, the duo branched out into petty crime and acquired a feared reputation.[2] Like the other gangs headed by Arun Gawli, Amar Naik and his brother Ashwin Naik, the Rajan gang operated protection money rackets and also settled financial and land disputes.[5]
When the powerful Tamilian don of Matunga, Varadarajan Mudaliar shifted his base to Madras, Bada Rajan and his chief lieutenant, Chhota Rajan, expanded into and took control of his rackets over most of Chembur. The remaining part was taken over by Sadhu Shetty, a protege of Mudaliar.[6] Mudaliar controlled the smuggling operations in Mumbai, along with two of the most powerful dons of the Mumbai underworld, Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. He sought assistance from Bada Rajan to protect his territories and neutralise threats from rivals like Karim Lala and Haji Mastan.[7] Gradually, they extended their area of influence from Chembur to Ghatkopar east in northeastern Mumbai.[8]
In 1976, Badda Rajan set up a "mandal" (group) known as the "Sahyadri Krida Sangh" in his native locality of Tilaknagar. He continued to exercise control over the mandal until his murder. The mandal would later pass over to the control of Chhota Rajan after his death, that he continues to hold on to this day.[9]
The Rajan gang also developed close ties to D-Company don, Dawood Ibrahim. When he was deserted by his former Pathan allies of the Karim Lala gang, Ibrahim forged a strong alliance with Badda Rajan.[5] In fact, Ibrahim hired Badda Rajan to kill members of the gang, led by Amirzada Nawab Khan and Lala's nephew, Samad Khan, who had also murdered Ibrahim's elder brother, Shabir. The task to assassinate Amirzada was assigned to David Pardesi, an unemployed resident of Tilak Nagar by Bada Rajan. Pardesi successfully killed Amirzada in a daring operation. The operation became an instant legend, immediately changing the underworld equation in Mumbai and and became an integral event to Dawood's ascend as a Don.[10][4]
[edit]Gang war with Yashwant Jadhav

By early 1982, Bada Rajan and Chhota Rajan had firmly entrenched themselves in the racket of selling black market movie tickets near Sahakar Theatre in Tilaknagar.[3] The racket of black market tickets near Odeon Theatre was firmly under the control of Chandu, who managed the racket with the help of his aides, Ratna and Antu from Kirol Village in Vidya Vihar. He maintained his control through the use of enforcers Babya Khopde and Lal Singh Chauhan. Since most of the shows were full for at least the first three days, the entire racket was a gold mine for the operators.[3]
Bada Rajan decided to expand his activities by taking control over the blackmarketing operations at Odeon. He made an offer of a 50% partnership to Chandu, which he accepted. In spite of this, however, the next day, Rajan ordered two of his associates to take charge. The duo slapped one of Chandu’s men in front of his entire gang. The move had the desired effect and allowed Bada Rajan’s men to seize control over the blackmarketing operations at Odeon, retaining 100 per cent profit.[3]
This, however, did not sit well with rival don Yeshwant Jadhav and his younger brother Sanjay of Ghatkopar, east.[2][3] Jadhav's association with gangster Philip Pandhare made him a force to be reckoned with. In the past, Pandhare's men had once stabbed Bada Rajan in a local train, crippling him for some time.[3][1]
The conflict further escalated when gangsters Domnic, Bada Tambi, Ashok Kunte, Parliya, Kamlakar, Sanjiva Bhosle and Yeda Bala broke away from the Rajan gang and joined hands with Jadhav. Thereafter, a gang of eight members, headed by Chhota Rajan, set out in autorickshaws looking for Domnic, who was hiding at Odeon. Rajan and his associates were interrupted by Bhogilal at the gate when they tried to barge into the hall to kill Dominic. Rajan repeatedly stabbed him and was followed by other members. They even injured police constables Ramchandra Khare and Ghoraknath Sakpal in the ensuing melee.[3]
Within the next two years, seven gangsters were killed in the resulting gang war between the two gangs.[3] Finally, Badda Rajan sought the help of Varadarajan Mudaliar. He used his power to threaten Jadhav. Desperate, he turned for help to a gangster named Abdul Kunju.[2]
[edit]Assassination

Abdul Kunju had a bitter and long standing enmity with Badda Rajan. It all started when Bada Rajan sent his men to assault some youth in Shell Colony, Chembur, for harassing a woman typist. This incident developed into a deadly rivalry with Kunju.[1] Both Kunju and Rajan had sworn to kill each other.[11]
Aware of Rajan's enormous power in the areas between Ghatkopar and Matunga, Kunju realized that he could not fight the Rajan gang on his own. Therefore, he allied himself with Badda Rajan's rival, Philip Pandhare. Pandhare’s gang was further strengthened when Vijay Sawant and Francis Xavier, also known as "Shorty", from Pestom Sagar enlisted with them.[1]
After Amirzada Nawab Khan was assassinated outside the sessions court premises on September 6, 1983 by Bada Rajan’s hitman, David Pardesi. Kunju switched sides and allied himself with Kalia Anthony and Mahesh Dolakia of the Karim Lala gang to murder Bada Rajan.[1]
Kunju's neighbor, an autorickshaw driver named Chandrashekar Safalika, who was looking to make Rs 50 lakhs for his sister’s wedding, was hired for the job. He was introduced to hotelier, Mahesh Dholakia at Caesar Palace. Dholakia offered around Rs 50 lakh as "supari" (Murder contract fees) and told him that he would get the entire money if he succeeded in killing Rajan. Safalika left with only Rs 1 lakh. The next day, Kunju provided Safalika with a revolver, and converted an isolated spot near Vikhroli Park site into a firing range. He was trained for the next 15 days by Ramesh Pujari, Mangesh More and Francis a.k.a "Kaliya Anthony" (Blackie Anthony).[11]
In a daring operation, Safalika dressed as a naval cadet with his gun hidden in the cavity of a thick book, stalked Bada Rajan outside the Esplanade court and shot him dead. The hit was carried out on September 21, 1983, exactly 15 days after Amirzada's murder.[1] Safalika was caught on the spot, but managed to escape while he was being escorted to the Thane prison.[11]
[edit]Retribution for assassination

The murder of Bada Rajan dealt a devastating blow to his gang. His right hand man and successor, Chhota Rajan was shattered at the loss of his mentor and swore retribution against the assassins.[2]
It was well known that Abdul Kunju was a cricket enthusiast and often managed a good-sized crowd to come and watch him play. This gave Chhota Rajan the opportunity to use Kunju's own passion against him. During one such match in 1985, as Kunju hit a boundary, three young gangsters dressed in T-shirts and sneakers, including Sanjay Raggad, Sadhu Shetty and Chhota Rajan himself, entered the arena on the pretext of retrieving the ball. After doing so, they walked right up to Kunju, pulled out their guns and shot him dead at point blank range.[2][5] Another report suggests that Chota Rajan sent Sanjay Raggad and Vijay to shoot down Kunju when he was watching a volleyball match. On spotting the two assailants. Kunju fled the match venue with the duo in pursuit. Eventually, Raggad and Vijay sprayed an array of bullets into Kunju's body that left him dead.[12]
After Kunju's death, Dolakia went back on his word and refused to deliver the remaining 49 lakhs, leaving the now fugitive Safalika helpless and on his own. In desperation, he turned to the Thane-based goon Abdul Majid for help. Majid invited him over for a treat at a bar in Thane, which in actuality was owned by Sadhu Shetty. Safalika got very drunk and remained at the bar in the same night for shelter. In the meanwhile, Shetty tipped off Chhotta Rajan to his whereabouts and Safalika was woken up at around 4 a.m. by Rajan's henchmen. He was then driven in a Fiat car to Dawood Ibrahim’s younger brother, Noora’s hideout at Nagpada. There he was viciously interrogated, tortured and subsequently murdered the next day.[11]