he turf war is intensifying in Mumbai’s underworld. Dons are looking to expand their fiefdoms and their target is the territory of their rivals.
Central Mumbai, the stronghold of underworld don Chhota Rajan, is being eyed by fugitive dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel. After last month’s murder of Farid Tanasha, his key aide, Rajan has been losing command over the area.
This was revealed by an uncle-nephew duo, arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday. A cache of arms, including 103 live cartridges, 11 pistols and one carbine, was recovered from the two.
According to the ATS, they had arrested Nasir Ahmed Shaikh, 35, after being tipped off by their Vikhroli and Juhu units. The tip-off was that Nasir would arrive near Shreyas Cinema, Ghatkopar, to deliver arms. This area, along with the adjoining Tilak Nagar and Chembur, is the primary base of the Chhota Rajan gang in the city.
On interrogation, Nasir revealed that he was acting at the behest of his uncle Ali Hasan Qureshi, 65, a resident of Jogeshwari. Within hours, another team raided Qureshi’s house and seized more live cartridges.
“During interrogation, the duo revealed that they were given the task of recruiting youths for the Dawood gang,” said Rakesh Maria, ATS chief. “We are interrogating them to find out the source of the ammunition and its destination.”
The ATS claimed that prima facie, it appeared that the two were affiliated to the D-gang and had been identifying youths to be inducted into the gang. “We are also ascertaining if they were privy to other underworld operations,” said an officer.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that Qureshi is a history-sheeter with his first criminal case dating back to the 1973. “He has several criminal records, including kidnapping, murder, attempt to murder and assaulting,” said a senior ATS official.
