Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police writes book to set record straight

(From left) Madhukar Zende, Isaque Bagwan, Uddhav Thackeray and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui at the book launch. Pic/Shadab Khan

Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Isaque Bagwan's book, 'Me against the Mumbai Underworld' released at Rang Sharda Natya Mandir in Bandra West on Thursday."The book aims to set the record straight about a lot of things, primarily though, the twisting of facts in the movie Shootout at Wadala, where actor Anil Kapoor played a character that was supposedly based on me. When I saw the trailer of the movie, I was shocked. It had the underworld 'walking' into the police commissioner's office, I was appalled. This never happens, never. Also, this nexus between the police and the underworld is rubbish. I told the filmmakers to change my name in the movie, from Isaque it became Afaq or some such, I am not interested in faaltu publicity," said a still simmering Bagwan.

Smash misconceptions
"At the time, my officers had told me 'if you are so upset, why don't you write a book?' And, that is how the book came about. As I am retired, I had the time to write. It will smash misconceptions. It is the unfiltered story of Isaque Bagwan, a mix of anecdotes and experiences," said the former cop who now runs a detective service. Asked to detail one "misconception," Bagwan said, "Being labelled as an 'encounter' cop or specialist. There is no such thing as an 'encounter' specialist. A commissioner does not give orders to go out and kill. Some police officers are not so called "trigger happy". An officer has to draw his weapon against a criminal, because, if you do not kill him, he will kill you," stated Bagwan, matter of fact.

One anecdote in his book Bagwan said "is about a drug smuggler who befriended narcotics control officers, giving them inside information about drug smugglers. In fact, this so called 'informant' was the kingpin. There is an anecdote about how we nabbed him. Then, there is an anecdote about Dawood's brother's killers who were arrested and in court. Every witness turned hostile. The killers were jubilant. But, there was one witness, a doctor…" Bagwan then laughed and said, "People need to read the book to see how
that ended."

Exciting read
Bagwan said the cops vs underworld battles, just like everything else in life, have changed with the times. "Earlier, there were khabris, now mobile, WhatsApp, email have changed the nature of information gathering." He also disputes accusations that this new 'underworld' oeuvre in writing as one can call it, with books and movies being made on the ugly underbelly of the city, feeds into the fascination about gangsters, and glorifies the underworld. His book, too, may be accused as being guilty of that. Yet, Bagwan strongly said, "That is not the aim of my book. It will make people see the police through another prism, as an immensely powerful institution to bring justice to the people. Yet, it is not preachy. I think it will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Do not hold Isaque Bagwan responsible if you fall off, because fact can be stranger, and sometimes more exciting, than fiction," Bagwan concluded.

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