Mumbai police overpower city's underworld in five years

In the wake of gangster Ravi Pujari's arrest, the Mumbai Police have claimed that a number of seasoned members of powerful gangs allegedly "ruling the city" have been arrested by them in the last five years while some gangs have also been dismantled permanently.

Details of police action on 13 dons and their associates active for over two decades were procured by mid-day to ascertain the claim. According to the police, action against gangsters began gaining momentum after Mumbai got its current police commissioner who had a wide experience of working with the Intelligence Bureau.

The Anti Extortion Cell of Mumbai Crime Branch was formed to tackle gangsters involved in extortion. "We have successfully managed to apply MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) in 25 cases in the last five years which meant none of the accused could secure bail. This will continue till we make Mumbai mafia-free," said an officer of the Crime Branch.

Name: Gurunath Narhari Satam alias Guru Satam
Age: 70
Number of associates arrested: 25
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 10
Status: Wanted

Ejaj Lakdawala

Name: Ejaj Lakdawala
Age: 50
Number of associates arrested: 15
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 9
Status: Wanted
Having started out as an employee in his uncle's transport company, in 1993, Lakdawala killed one Haren Mehta following an altercation at a local cricket match. He was arrested, imprisoned and acquitted in 1995. In prison, he met Sunil Madgaonkar alias Matya who, later, gave Lakdawala the supari (contract) to kill Farid Raji, an alleged Shakeel aide. Raji survived the attempt in 1996 and Lakdawala was arrested and sent to Nashik jail, from where he escaped in 1998 and fled to Malaysia. He then joined Chhota Rajan who was operating from a private yacht off Malaysia. After Rajan was shot at in Bangkok in 2000, Lakdawala parted ways with him and formed his own gang. He is allegedly now working with gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

Suresh Pujari

Name: Suresh Pujari
Age: 45
Number of associates arrested: 12
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 15
Status: Wanted

Anees Ibrahim

Name: Anees Ibrahim (Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother)
Age: 58
Number of associates arrested:12
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 25
Status: Wanted

Ramdas Rahane

Name: Ramdas Rahane
Age: 41
Number of associates arrested:13
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 11
Status: Arrested
He hails from Kopargaon in Ahmednagar district but has been residing in Mumbai for several years. His brother Dashrath Rahane of the Amar Naik gang was murdered by rival gangsters in 1990. Rahane was arrested by a team of the Anti-Extortion Cell last year when he was planning to attack a hotelier after having allegedly received money from Pakistan to do so.

Name: Salim Gani Dalvi alias Salim Chiplun alias Sikandar
Age: 49
Number of associates arrested: 8
Status: Wanted
He belongs to Mumbai's Nagpada area and allegedly works under gangster Shakeel. According to agencies, Chiplun may be in Karachi and handles earnings from crime syndicates run by gangsters operating in India. He is wanted in several criminal cases like extortion and threat.

Chhota Shakeel

Name: Shaikh Shakil Babu Mohiddin alias Chhota Shakeel
Age: 63
Number of associates arrested: 3
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 2
Status: Wanted

Ravi Pujari

Name: Raviprakash Sulya Pujari alias Ravi Pujari
Age: 51
Number of associates arrested: 45
Number of cases registered against the gang: 49
Status: Detained in Senegal

Name: Prasad Pujari
Age: 47
Number of associates arrested: over 10
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 5
Status: Wanted
He is known to be a close aide of Kumar Pillai. He is believed to be hiding in some south-east Asian country.

Chhota Rajan

Name: Rajan Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan
Age: 59
Number of associates arrested: 0
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 71
Status: Arrested
He used to runs his cartel from high seas and was once the most trusted aide of Dawood. He often ran his cartel from chartered ships and yachts sailing the high seas and is now in jail.

Ashwin Naik

Name: Ashwin Naik
Age: Over 60
Number of associates arrested: 0
Number of cases registered against the gang: No new case
Status: Not active
Naik, a London-educated electronic engineer had taken over the gang run by his brother Amar, who was gunned down by police in an encounter in the 1990s. In 1994, a rival gangster had shot at Naik in the Mumbai sessions court premises. He is wheelchair-bound ever since. The Mumbai police arrested him in an extortion case after he was caught red-handed accepting money from a city builder and no activity of his gang has been recorded in the last five years.

Arun Gawli

Name: Arun Gawali
Age: 63
Number of associates arrested: 0
Number of cases registered against the gang: No new case
Status: Arrested

Fahim Machmach

Name: Fahim Muchmuch alias Fatwa
Age: 47
Number of associates arrested: 4
Number of cases registered against the gang: Over 6
Status: Wanted
A resident of Bhindi Bazar, Machmach reports to Chhota Shakeel and is involved in the extortion racket. According to the police, he constantly shifts base between Dhaka, Kathmandu and Karachi.

Gangsters put behind the bars in 2018:
5 associates of Suresh Pujari
2 associates of Ravi Pujari
4 associates of Fahim MuchMuch
5 associates of Anees Ibrahim
7 associates of Guru Satam

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates