When dons put on patriotic garb

‘’I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.’’ An innocuous message loaded with threat, promise of violence and subdued arrogance which only don Vito Corleone (in The Godfather) could have carried it off with that cocky self-assurance.

His real-life counterparts in Mumbai would have loved to be in his state of strength. But what they lacked was the clarity over choices. Rising through gun, gore and grime in the dark alleys, they were canny operators alright, but not sharp enough to anticipate the consequences of their dangerous dalliances. The big operators could possibly still have seen through the challenge of encounter cops had they not ventured into ideological-political terrains.
But, in hindsight it could be the reflection of a global trend.

Organised crime, like smuggling activities, across the world flourished post-World War II and sputtered to a virtual stop towards the 90s as economies opened up and got integrated in several ways. The bouquet of activities started shrinking; and with terror making its presence felt as a global phenomena, the dons had to weigh their options hard. The dilemma was nowhere sharper than in Mumbai, where the underworld had a multi-community character.

Cut to the present. With big guns on the run and their hold over Mumbai operations shrinking, the gangland remains hopelessly fragmented. The crisis was triggered by Dawood Ibrahim, who strayed into an entirely alien territory by plunging into the communal passions of the late 1980s and early 90s. The move converted the secular character of the underworld and brought in a basis for division hitherto unknown: patriotism.

Post 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, a direct consequence of the communal hate campaign leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, Chhota Rajan split from Dawood, claiming his actions were unpatriotic. The ruling dispensation promoted the idea of Hindu dons vs Muslim dons, driving the wedge further.

Dawood himself fled Mumbai in 1986 and had established base in Dubai where he got in touch with ISI operatives working under cover in the Emirates. Believed to be sheltered in Karachi now, he has expanded into full-time terror activities by his association with global terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaeda. Branded a global terrorist by the United States and several international agencies, his reach now extends over continents, Asia and Africa in particular.

Soon after the Ayodhya demolition, the ISI sensed a chance to strike India, but  it was severely handicapped by manpower shortage. Its senior ISI operatives flew down to Dubai with the serial blast plan and explained the intricacies to Dawood. They wanted to use Dawood and Memon’s well oiled smuggling network to land huge quantities of arms, ammunition and RDX near Mumbai. The network had mastered the art of landing and distributing contraband over the years and were ready to do the same once again. This was the beginning of the D-Company’s tryst with the rising phenomena, global terror.

The crime world began falling apart when Rajan, who had vowed to avenge the 1993 blasts to prove his patriotic credentials, went on a killing spree to eliminate those who participated in the serial blasts, the first real act of terror as we know today. He soon emerged as the biggest challenge to the dreaded D-Company.

One of Dawood’s closest aides Philloo Khan alias Bakhtiyar Ahmed Khan was lured into a hotel room in Bangkok in 1994, where he was tortured to death. Philloo was named by the police in the 1993 blasts. Retaliation followed soon. Dawood tracked down Rajan in Bangkok in September 2000. Chotta Shakeel led the hit. Posing as pizza delivery men, they gunned down Rajan hitman Rohit Varma, but Rajan escaped. Rajan’s men shot dead Santosh Shetty, Dawood’s chief finance manager and money-laundering agent, at the India Club in Dubai in 2003 in Mumbai. This was a huge blow to the D-Company.

Sometime later, close Rajan lieutenants, Vicky Malhotra and Farid Tanansha, made a futile attempt to bump off Dawood in Pakistan.
While the battle is on, the ISI is busy using Dawood’s vast network to funnel fake Indian currency and narcotics into India. Aftab Batki, Dawood’s man Friday  has been entrusted with the responsibility of pushing in fake notes in the Indian market. 

“We are in a phase of narco-terrorism right now. Dawood ‘s network is being used to support it,’’ said an official from the security establishment.