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The Rediff Special/Jake Khan

Rampant gangland strikes terror in Bombay

Bombay has been having a bloodbath this year.

The reason is a switch in the gangland's targets. Everyone from top businessmen to petty shopkeepers, with surgeons and general practitioners in between, is in the line of fire.

The telephone, once an instrument of convenience, has become a "bugle of doom" for the hapless targets. Every time it rings, the heart skips a beat: who could it be?

Traders, businessmen, almost anyone with money, are being targeted. And many have been shot dead for refusing to pay.

According to police records, 85 men have been shot dead and 12 injured in 97 shootouts in the city so far this year. Of them, 34 were civilians, nine direct victims of extortion.

Says Deputy Commissioner of Police (detection) Param Bir Singh, "The maximum number of killings are due to gang rivalry. Other reasons are property disputes, supari (contract) killing, and extortion."

Besides "established" gangsters like Chhota Shakeel, Abu Salem, Arun Gawli and Chhota Rajan, who are competing with one another for a "share in the extortion market", even those gangs which were more or less defunct, like Ashwin Naik's, have begun flexing their muscle again.

Top police officers admit to a spurt in extortion cases. So far, 550 complaints have been registered this year and 350 persons arrested. And these are just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. "The reported cases are hardly one per cent of the actual number of extortion demands," says an additional commissioner of police on condition of anonymity.

Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) D Sivanandan confirms: "Most businessmen who receive extortion threats do not come to us. Those who have come to us have never been harmed. It is only those who did not approach the police who have got killed."

In a bid to win public confidence, the Bombay police last year established four additional anti-extortion cells. Some victims of extortion did approach these cells, but many are now shying away.

B Shah, a merchant in Mohatta Market, Bombay's wholesale cloth market, says, "Police protection cannot be permanent. And the goons will not pardon a smart trader. Look what happened to Bharat Shah (owner of the Roopam cloth superstore). He was given protection which was later withdrawn."

Shah also recounted the case of a cloth merchant friend who helped the police lay a trap at his shop and arrest some extortionists. They got out on bail and killed him.

Similarly, the killing of the Kurup brothers, restaurateurs at Bhandup, a north-eastern suburb, rattled other hoteliers. According to Crime Branch officers, the elder brother was the target. The gangsters thought that if he is killed, the other would pay up. But both brothers died in the shootout. Soon thereafter, many other hoteliers paid up quietly.

"There was a message for us in the Kurup killings, that if we do not pay we will meet the same fate," said a friend of the slain brothers.

Until last year, the gangsters targeted only a section of the population -- the very affluent, like builders and film-makers -- for their demands which used to be for a minimum of Rs 500,000. But now everyone seems to be fair game. And "their demands vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50 million," says DCP Singh.

The reason, say observers, is the economic recession and tight money market.

JCP Sivanandan agrees: "The recession in the world of commerce and the large amount of money that has to be paid to the foot soldiers [of the gangsters] has made them hungry and reckless. Since the trade cannot pay unreasonable sums, they end up paying with their lives."

Currently, several businessmen, traders and professionals are at the receiving end of these demands. According to the anti-extortion cells, the list of those threatened includes two diamond merchants, four film producers, three jewellers, four readymade garment dealers, three restaurateurs, and at least one general practitioner. Three medical specialists -- an oncologist, a psychiatrist, and a cancer specialist -- too have received some vague threats.

But Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime) Pradeep Sawant claims extortion is not "that rampant". He argues there was a time when even roadside tea-stall owners were threatened by men claiming to belong to one or the other gang. "When they began issuing threats through mobile phones, we launched a crackdown." And thereafter, the incidence of extortion has declined, he says.

Senior police officers say they have got several mobile phones deactivated to tackle the threats. They have also sent a proposal to the Union home ministry to restrict the easy availability of mobile phones and SIM cards.

The Rediff Specials

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