about Ejaz Lakdawala, was a resident of Jogeshwari in Mumbai where during his early years he is known to have allegedly attacked his school teacher. Subsequently, sometime in the 1980s, he became involved with petty crimes and went to jail as a result. In jail, he came into contact with Chhota Rajan’s gang. In fact, Lakdawala is considered to be one of the first to side with Rajan after he split up with Ibrahim over the orchestration of the 1993 Mumbai blasts. The two of them moved to Malaysia, where they received information about the blast accused who were out on bail. Using this information, Rajan’s gang members killed them. Rajan was sentenced for life by a Special CBI court in 2018 and is currently serving his sentence in Tihar jail.
Subsequently, after falling out with Rajan, Lakdawala formed his own gang in 2008, after which he was accused of his involvement in several extortion cases. In one of the last cases filed against him before his arrest, Lakdawala is alleged to have demanded Rs 2 crore from a buffalo trader in Kalyan in December 2019.
In 2011, a special MCOCA court convicted three members of Lakdawala’s gang and acquitted two others in connection with an extortion case against a builder. The judgment mentions that on October 1, 2011, the real estate agent working for the particular construction company was shot in the leg by a man riding pillion on a about Ejaz Lakdawala red coloured motorbike.
Initially, Lakdawala was among the close confidants of Dawood who used to provide logistical support to D-Company members in Mumbai for extorting Bollywood film producers and businessmen. But after Rajan split with Dawood, Lakdawala chose to walk away with Rajan.
In fact, his first job in the underworld came through Matya who ordered him to kill Farid Rajji, an aide of Dawood confidant Chhota Shakeel. But Rajji survived the attempt on his life in 1996, and Lakdawala was arrested and sent to Nashik Jail. He escaped from Nashik jail in 1998 and reached Malaysia.
He later shifted his base to Bangkok where he associated himself with Chhota Rajan. In 2003, Lakdawala is believed to have played a major role in the killing of D-Company’s chief financier Sharad Shetty in Dubai which saw Shakeel order a hit on Ejaz Lakdawala. He was shot in a busy market place in Bangkok in 2003, but he survived seven bullet injuries and was admitted to a hospital in Bangkok from where he escaped to South Africa, and later to Canada.
