When Mumbai gangsters hit the streets of Bangkok

Illustration/Ravi Jadhav

No matter what [Bangalore don Muthappa] Rai did, he couldn't get closer to Dawood Ibrahim. But opportunities have a strange way of presenting themselves. Chhota Rajan, a Hindu don, had parted ways with Dawood Ibrahim soon after the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. Both the dons were baying for each other's blood. More than one hundred gang members from each side had died in this gang war as their enmity continued to deepen. Anyone who wanted to be in their good books would pass on information of their rivals.

Once, Mumbai gangsters Ravi Poojary and Guru Satam were overheard talking in a Dubai restaurant about their ability to get information on Chhota Rajan's hideout if someone gave them good money. The duo had earlier worked for Chhota Rajan before forming their gang. Their conversation was overheard by a man in the restaurant who knew Rai. He immediately rang him up and told him about Poojary and Satam's drunken banter. Within an hour, Rai arrived at the restaurant and sat down in front of the two men.

'What do you know about Chhota Rajan?' he asked. The two men smiled slyly. 'Do you know where he is hiding?' Rai asked. The duo kept smiling. 'Paanch crore (Rs 5 crore),' Poojary said flashing his palm in front of Rai's face. Rai did not bargain. Instead, as a token for the deal, he took Poojary and Satam to a nearby mall and shopped for them, the bill exceeding 40,000 dirhams. From there, Rai headed straight to Sharad Anna's Jumeirah Beach house and shared the information with excitement. Sharad Anna rang Dawood Ibrahim's Karachi-based lieutenant, Chhota Shakeel, who in turn informed the big daddy.

He agreed to pay the amount but said that Rs 1 crore would be paid as advance while the remaining money would be given only after the information was verified. Not wanting to take a chance, he sent his own men to carry out the hit. Dawood Ibrahim formed a team of seven lieutenants and at the helm was Rashid Hussain Sheikh alias Rashid Malbari. Malbari had a personal score to settle with Chhota Rajan, whose men had killed his brother Sajid in 1997 in the most savage manner. Sajid was beheaded in broad daylight. In a police statement, Malbari had described his brother's brutal killing as the turning point in his life. Dawood Ibrahim sent his team to Bangkok and arranged for seven weapons and 800 rounds. The group rented a house in Aree Court, a building opposite Rajan's Sawan Court. They kept a close watch on Rajan's movements.

He hardly ever stepped out of his apartment, they realised. After patiently gathering intelligence for weeks, they planned the first attack outside a five-star hotel where Chhota Rajan was headed for a meeting and to spend some leisure time. Dawood Ibrahim's gang fanned out near the hotel, securing every entry and exit. But when Rajan arrived, none of them could muster the courage to pull the trigger. The first attempt was an embarrassing failure. They planned the second attack in his house. Sawan Court was a gated community comprising three buildings, each of five storeys. The flat was rented by Chhota Rajan's trusted soldier Rohit Verma, who lived there with his wife. The residents of Sawan Court were oblivious to the presence of a gangster amidst them.

On 14 September 2000. Malbari and his men, dressed in crisp black suits, walked into the building, carrying a box of cake. They also had two Thai men accompanying them. Dawood Ibrahim had laid down yet another condition. 'Put the gun on his forehead and call me. I want him to know that I could kill him anytime,' Dawood Ibrahim ordered his men. They rang the doorbell. Verma opened the door and froze. Before he could react, Malbari and his gang gunned him down. His wife, who came running out, was shot at once and left injured. But Chhota Rajan was nowhere to be seen.

The men figured out that he had locked himself inside the bedroom. They began firing at the door. As many as eighty rounds were fired, of which one hit Chhota Rajan in the abdomen. Chhota Rajan knew that if he stayed inside the house, he would die. So he decided to make a run for his life. He jumped off the bedroom's low-rise balcony and landed on his feet, fracturing his ankle. With the sound of gunfire booming in the building, Malbari feared that the Thai police might soon arrive at the scene. He and his men fled the spot without waiting to check if Chhota Rajan was inside the bedroom or whether the bullets had hit him. They desperately hoped that the spray of bullets had killed him. The unsuspecting residents of the building ran to help Chhota Rajan and rushed him to Samitivej Hospital in a tuk tuk (rickshaw).

It was only a day later that the residents learnt that what they had witnessed was a full-blown gang war between two of Mumbai's most-dreaded gangsters. Dawood Ibrahim was furious. Malbari asked for his permission to carry out another attack in the hospital but Dawood Ibrahim did not approve of it and asked him to flee the country. In Dubai, another man was getting even more restless. The fact that Chhota Rajan would plot a revenge and his name would crop up was giving Rai sleepless nights.

Excerpted with permission from Bhais of Bengaluru by Jyoti Shelar, published by Penguin Random House India

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