Encounter specialists cornered while tackling Mumbai dons, crime
India's commercial capital Mumbai is a place for crime, good policing, bad policing, Bollywood, film financing and after 26/11 terrorism. There is also the key role of the politician in the nexus. Confining to the police and gangsters, it is interesting to recall both the categories. Just to recall the names of gangsters or dons over the years, there were Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Abu Salem, Haji Mastan, Arun Gawli, Dawood Ibrahim ... One anecdote about Haji Mastan would tell us about the clout wielded by the gangsters. Mastan started his crime career as a smuggler in Bombay Port. But he rose to the heights of crime. Once he wanted to listen to Mohammad Rafi, the great playback singer, well past midnight. His man rang up Mohammad Rafi requesting the singer to sing for his master. Woken up after midnight, Mohammad Rafi told him there were any number of his records which could be played to please his master. Haji Mastan would have none of it. Mohammad Rafi should come and sing. That's the order from Haji Mastan. The great singer had to go and sing and please the smuggler! Such is the clout of these gangsters. At some point, the police had acquired the nerve to tackle crime. Former Supercop Julio Ribeiro developed the knack for setting one gangster against another. Then came Encounter Specialists. Daya Nayak is one of the many Encounter Specialists. The others are Pradip Sharma, Vijay Salaskar, Sachin Vaje and Ravindranath Angre. Significantly, most of the Encounter specialists belong to the 1983 batch, when the Supercop was the police chief. Daya Nayak: A 1995 batch Sub-Inspector, he is aged 48. He was involved in 83 encounters, mostly Chota Rajan gang members. He was suspended for a decade in a disproportionate assets case. He is now back in action. Pradip Sharma: A 1983 batch sub-inspector, Sharma was involved in 113 encounters, including Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists of Pakistan. Suspended from service owing to excesses in encounters; and stated to be known to Dawood Ibrahim. He was arrested in connection with the encounter killing of Lakhanbhaiyya. While he was freed in 2013 in that case, he did not rejoin duties. Ramgopal Varma made `Department' inspired by him. Sanjay Dutt played his character. Vijay Salaskar: Sub-inspector of 1983 batch, Vijay was involved in 83 encounters and famous for smashing the Arun Gawli gang. He died in the terrorist attack of 26/11. A decorated officer, he worked in anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police. Sachin Vaje: Also of the 1983 batch, Sachin was involved in 63 encoutners. He accounted for many of the Dawood Ibrahim gang members. Expert in Cyber crime, he has resigned from the police service in 2007. He was involved in a case of police highhandedness. Following the death of one Khwaja Yunis, Sachin was charged with using third degree methods. That he had held the victim upside down in ice cold waters, as a result of which Yunis had died. After the case, he resigned from service. Ravindra Angre: Also of the 1983 batch, Ravindra was involved in 53 encounters. He is known for smashing Suresh Machekar and Amar Nayak gangs. He was charged with blackmailing a builder and had to serve a jail term for a short while in 2009. Although he rejoined service, he served another term of 49 days on the charge of attempt to murder. He could wriggle out of the case. But he was transfered to faraway Gadchiroli, and he did not accept the transfer. He was sacked from service in 2014. Angre has since joined the BJP and is expected to take on the Shiv Sena and the NCP in the Thane Municipal Corporation elections in 2017.
