A TADA court in Mumbai sentenced gangster Abu Salem and Karimullah Khan to life imprisonment in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. As many as 257 people were killed, 713 others were seriously injured on March 12, 1993 when a series of 12 explosions shook Mumbai. Abu Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005, while Karimullah Khan was arrested in 2008. Others who were arrested and convicted include Mustafa Dossa, Firoz Khan, Tahir Merchant and Riyaz Siddiqui .Thirty-five people, including prime accused Dawood Ibrahim, associates Tiger Memon, Mohammed Ahmed Umar Dosa and Javed Chikna, are still wanted in the case and are on the run.

Here are some of the prime accused who are still absconding:

Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar: A constable’s son who rose from Mumbai’s underbelly, he fought a pitched battle against rival mafia dons, and gave a corporate culture to Mumbai’s underworld. He left the country in 1984, and emerged after nine years, as the man who sponsored the 1993 Mumbai serial blast. Dawood is believed to be in Karachi, Pakistan.

Ibrahim Abdul Razak Memon alias Tiger Memon: A convent-educated student, the lure of money got Memon to Mumbai’s underworld. However, the riots in 1992, where his family allegedly suffered, changed his views. He then went on to plan, coordinate and execute 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Memon, through his contacts in Mumbai’s underworld, travelled to Pakistan via Dubai, and chalked out the extensive plan to get RDX on the Maharashtra coast to carry out the blasts. Little has been heard about Tiger Memon since he fled the country. Police sources claim Memon shuttles between Pakistan and Dubai.

Mohammad Umar Ahmed Dossa: Brother of Mustafa Dossa, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Mohammed is believed to have facilitated meetings of those involved in the blasts in Dubai. It was because of the wide network of landing agents from the Dossa company that Tiger could get explosives to the city. While Mustafa Dossa was deported to Mumbai and died during his trial, Mohammed has become one of the top three hawala operators in the world, said sources. Mohammed, police sources said, has a chain of jewellery stores in Dubai operated under various aliases.

Javed Dawood Tailor alias Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna: He suffered a bullet injury in the 1992 Mumbai riots. Javed, who got the alias Chikna for his good looks, ensured the vehicles were loaded with explosives, and monitored the planting of bombs. He was in Mumbai till the blasts, after which he escaped to Dubai. Javed, too, is believed to be in Pakistan.

Dawood Phanse: Tiger’s landing agent. Agreed to help after meeting Dawood in Dubai. His men unloaded RDX from boats and transported it to Mumbai

Sharif Abdul Gafoor Parkar: Convicted for aiding the landing of arms and ammunition. The Raigad resident was part of Tiger’s smuggling operation. The 70-year-old’s son Mujib has also has been convicted of the same charges.

“When (underworld don) Haji Mastan came to Mantralaya, the entire secretariat would come down to see him. Indira Gandhi used to meet Karim Lala in Pydhonie (in south Mumbai),”

Raut said during an award function of Lokmat Media on Wednesday, as per the Press Trust of India (PTI). 

Although Raut withdrew his remarks soon after the Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam took strong objection to them, the fact remains that the Shiv Sena leader has opened a pandora box, as leader of opposition in Maharashtra assembly Devendra Fadnavis has demanded answers from top Congress leaders, including party president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, on Raut’s claims.

So, who really was Mastan Mirza aka Haji Mastan?

One of the three supposed underworld dons who called the shots in the then rapidly booming metropolis of Mumbai, Mastan Mirza was born in 1926 in a Muslim family in Panaikulam in modern-day Tamil Nadu. A November 2015 profile of Mastan in the Times of India said that he migrated to then Bombay at the age of eight, going on to rule the underworld from the 1960s to the 1980s.

The TOI profile of Mastan claims that he was among the two Tamilian migrants, the other being Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar, who went on to become dreaded figures in the coastal metropolis.

Biographical sketches of Mastan portray him as the Robinhood of the slums, mainly Dharavi, who endeared himself to the poor due to his involvement in charity work. Mastan spawned a massive gang empire that was financed by extortion, bootlegging and black marketing of movie tickets. Somewhat true to the claims made by Sanjay Raut on Wednesday, he had close connections Haji Mastan History in the police and politics alike, which smoothened his passage in carrying out the illegal activities he was involved in.

However, Bollywood seemed to be his first love. After he established himself as the undisputed powerbroker of the Mumbai underworld, accounts depict that he wanted to be seen primarily as a movie distributor and financier. Known to be an ardent fan of Madhubala, Mastan married a lesser-known actress Sona, which many accounts say was due to her resemblance with Madhubala.

True to the way he has been depicted in popular culture, Mastan was fond of the colour white and drove around the streets of Mumbai in a Mercedes car, all decked up in immaculate white clothes. Perhaps, Ajay Devgan-starrer Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, released in 2010, is the closest Bollywood has got in portraying the story of one its most passionate admirers.

His biographical accounts also Haji Mastan History claim that he was inspired by the ideals of Jayaprakash Narayan and he was briefly jailed during the Emergency for opposing it tooth-and-nail.

After being released from jail, he floated his own political party All India Dalit Muslim Suraksha Mahasangh, whose main agenda was that of Dalit-Muslim unity.

The Dawood-connection

India Today has reported that fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim first came in touch with Mastan after Dawood reportedly had a tiff with the gang-members of Mastan’s gang. 

Though they had differences initially, the two mobsters are set to have joined hands in taking on a rival Pathan gang, mainly comprised migrants from Afghanistan. Dawood reportedly took over the operation of the Mastan gang after latter floated his own political party.

It is unclear if Mastan approved of Dawood’s involvement in the 1993 blasts, a series of 13 bombings across Mumbai that led to at least 317 deaths.

Haji Mastan’s death

An India Today article dated July 31, 1994 reported that Mastan died at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital due to cardiac arrest. He was 68 at the time of his death.

Karim Lala (1911 – 19 February 2002), born as Abdul Karim Sher Khan in the Samalam Village of the Shegal District of the Kunar province of Afghanistan, was infamous as one of the three “mafia dons of Mumbai” in India for more than two decades from the sixties to the early eighties.^[1] The other two being Mastan Mirza aka Haji Mastan and Varadarajan Mudaliar.

rim Lala was an Afghan Pashtun who emigrated from Kunar, Afghanistan to Mumbai (then Bombay) in the 1920s. His family settled in one of the most densely populated and impoverished Muslim communities of Bhendi Bazaar in South Mumbai. Starting as an ordinary worker in the Mumbai docks, he later joined a gang of ethnic Pashtuns (called Pathans in India) who worked as illegal recovery agents for Marwari and Gujarati money lenders, landlords, and businessmen.^{[citation needed]} These money lenders and landlords employed the burly Pathans whose tall imposing size and intimidating demeanor made it easy to recover money from defaulting debtors and evicting tenants and owners from prime properties in the expensive south Mumbai area.

For over two decades, he was the leader of the dreaded “Pathan Gang” that operated in impoverished and crime-infested Muslim ghettos of South Mumbai like Dongri, Nagpada, Bhendi Bazaar, and Mohammad Ali Road. The Pathan Gang was involved in operating illegal gambling (satta) and liquor dens, illegal money recovery, illegal land evictions, kidnapping, protection racket (hafta), contract killing (supari), distribution of narcotics and counterfeit currency.

Lala soon rose up the ranks to be the chief of the “Pathan Gang” that became notorious for contract killings, forced evictions from property, kidnapping, and extortion. The gang operated several “carrom clubs” that were a facade for illegal moneylending, gambling, and betting rackets.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1970s, Lala agreed to a pact with the other two ganglords, Haji Mastan and Varadarajan Mudaliar to divide Mumbai amongst themselves so that they could freely run their criminal activities without any conflict between each other.

Personal life

Karim Lala married to two women and had one daughter from each wife. He raised his grandson as his son.

Later life

Due to failing health during the late seventies, Lala gradually transferred the leadership of the Pathan gang to his nephew, Samad Khan and then managed his hotel and transport business. Although Lala had several illegitimate businesses^{[citation needed]}, his legitimate business included two hotels (Al Karim Hotel and New India Hotel) and a travel and passport agency called New India Tours and Travels.

Lala remained friendly with his other counterparts- Haji Mastan and Varadarajan. He was also close to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray^[4] In 1980, Lala unsuccessfully tried to mediate peace between his nephew, Samad Khan and his rivals, Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar and Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.

Lala also held a weekly “durbar” where people from different walks of life narrated their grievances to Lala and he helped them financially or to get justice using his gang’s muscle power.

He died on 19 February 2002 at the age of 90. His younger brother (Ali Mohammed) was living in Kabul Afghanistan at that time and could never meet his brother.^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture

During his peak, Lala frequently invited several personalities from Bollywood (Hindi film industry) to his daawats (parties) and Eid celebrations. Many characters from Bollywood movies closely resemble Karim Lala and his mannerisms and accent.

The 1973 movie, Zanjeer, the writer duo, Salim–Javed created a Pathan character called “Sher Khan” (played by actor Pran) whose mannerisms resembled Karim Lala.

Widely considered to be the inspiration for the magnanimous crime lord Abdel Khader Khan in the 2003 bestselling novel Shantaram, Karim shares personal and behavioral similarities with the fictional mafia don.

Ajay Devgn played the character of Karim Lala in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2022 film Gangubai Kathiawadi.^[5]

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.

Dawood Ibrahim was born on 26 December 1955 in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, India. His father, Ibrahim Kaskar, worked as a head constable with the Mumbai Police and his mother, Amina, was a housewife.

• He lived in the Temkar Mohalla area of Dongri, attended Ahmed Sailor High School from which he dropped out.
• He grew up in the Dongri locality of Mumbai, which was when he came in contact with the gang of mobster Haji Mastan, after the latter attacked two of Ibrahim’s men. Ibrahim, with his brother Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar formed the D-Company.

RISING

• In 1980’s, he was first arrested for a robbery case and later his crime records increased. Dawood became more powerful and dangerous due to fight between Haji gang and Pathan gang .
• Due to gang war, Pathan gang managed to kill one of Dawood’s brother and it lead Dawood to take revenge and than Mumbai saw one of the deadliest gang war in city.
• Dawood managed to finish all members of the gang. After Haji Mastan moved to politics Dawood took over the gang and became bigger than Haji in underworld.

 BETTING AND EXTORTION

• Dawood was mostly involved into drug trafficking an providing transportation for illegal activities. But Shetty and Chotta Shakeel were keen about cricket and Dawood made his presence at several cricket matches in Dubai and elsewhere.
• There many cricketers of Indian and West Indies were managed and betting was one on a very high level. This started after 1985 and there are visuals of Dawood present at several cricket matches. And till date cricket betting is one of the prime business of the D gang.

 BOLLYWOOD

• Dawood became so powerful that every film industry member was in touch with him. They were attending parties as well. As no one had guts to say no to Dawood at least till 1993 Mumbai bomb blast.
• He produced several Bollywood movies on name of others and profit share was given to Dawood. He was dating many Bollywood actress. 1993

 BOMB BLASTS

• Dawood is widely believed to have masterminded the March 1993 bombings in Bombay. In 2003, the Indian and United States governments declared Ibrahim a “Global Terrorist.“
• In a public discourse in June 2017, jurist Ram Jethmalani confirmed that after the Bombay blasts, Dawood Ibrahim had called him from London, saying that he was prepared to come to India and stand trial, on the condition that he should not be subjected to any third degree treatment from the police. • Jethmalani had conveyed this to Sharad Pawar, but the politicians in power did not agree to this proposal.

WHAT NEXT?

• According to International claims, Ibrahim is believed to be living in Pakistan and then in the United Arab Emirates.
• On 11 May 2015, Rajnath Singh, the then Home Minister of India, told the parliament that Ibrahim was in Pakistan and he will bring him back to India.
• According to a dossier prepared by India in August 2015, about Dawood Ibrahim in hindi to be handed over to Pakistan, Ibrahim has nine residences in Pakistan and has three Pakistani passports which he frequently uses to travel.

 WHAT NEXT?

• He has been on The World’s 10 Most Wanted list since 2010, and third in the list, and is designated a “global terrorist”.
• Many attempts have been made to locate Ibrahim by the Indian intelligence agencies, Research and Analysis Wing and Intelligence Bureau (IB), ever since he went into hiding.
• His location has been frequently traced to Karachi, Pakistan, a claim which the Pakistani authorities have frequently denied.

 WHAT NEXT?

• The claims were further established in August 2015, when a phone call made to his home by an Indian television channel, about Dawood Ibrahim in hindi Times Now, was answered by his wife, who confirmed his presence at their home in Karachi.
• The Indian intelligence agencies immediately prepared a dossier of Ibrahim which included evidence of his location in Karachi, among other evidence.

 PERSONAL LIFE

• In 2006, Ibrahim’s daughter, Mahrukh Ibrahim, married Junaid Miandad, the son of Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad.
• In 2011, his daughter Mehreen, 24, married Ayub, a about Dawood Ibrahim in hindi Pakistani-American.His son Moin married Saniya, daughter of a London-based businessman on 25 September 2011.
• Several of his family members, including his brother, Iqbal Kaskar, live in Mumbai.

Laxman Gole is a contemporary Indian Gandhian who has been described as the real-life Munnabhai. He is the 2011 winner of Zindagi Live National Award given by IBN-7. He is the subject of a film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Madhavi Tangella. Prayaschit, Gunahon Ke Zakhm , a TV show on Sony Entertainment Television, hosted by Tisca Chopra had an episode based on his life.

EARLY LIFE

Gole grew up in Kurla a suburb of Mumbai. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 when he was in VII standard. He also attended boarding school in Nanded. As a juvenile, he fought and slashed a person, resulting in an arrest. However, his age was wrongly recorded as 19, and he was sent to Arthur Road jail.

PERIOD OF CONFLICT WITH THE LAW

The time Gole spent in jail gave him a bad reputation and brought him in contact with criminals. He says, “To some extent I blame the police for making me a criminal”. He spent over seven years in jail as an undertrial and prisoner for assault, attempt to murder and extortion, with 19 cases filed against him.

ENCOUNTER WITH GANDHI’S PHILOSOPHY

It was while being held in Nashik jail under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act that Gole came across Gandhi’s autobiography – The story of my experiments with truth.

A story in The Telegraph compares this with the incident in the film Munnabhai MBBS in which Gandhi “appears” to the protagonist of the film Munnabahi. Reading the book made Gole realise the fruitlessness of violence, falsity, crime and hatred; he was impressed by Gandhi’s courage in coming in terms with his mistakes and seeking forgiveness for them, in order to get on with life. Gole decided to plead guilty to the charges laid against him, he wrote a letter to the judge sitting over his case admitting the charges against him and expressed regret for them. The judge warned him that doing so could result in him being sent to prison for seven years, but Gole declared that he was prepared to bear whatever punishment he deserved. Gole also wrote letters to those he had hurt apologising to them. Impressed by Gole’s admission of his guilt and his desire for atoning for the wrong doings he had committed, the judge gave him a sentence reduced to half. He was acquitted in 18 cases, sentenced for four years in one case and for two months in another. This sentence too was reduced to two years.

LIFE AFTER RELEASE FROM JAIL

After release from Nasik jail, Gole began About Laxman Gole  working for the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, lecturing on Gandhian philosophy in various Indian jails including Tihar jail. He has trained in computers and runs his own NGO Saksham Peace foundation.