Salim the Disposable continues....

Raman noted down the number given by the mole. Since the informer had never given an incorrect input in the past, Inspector Raman Tyagi thought it fit to inform his superior Satish Jha, Superintendent of Police, STF, Bombay immediately. The SP instructed the Inspector to discuss the matter in detail the following day.

Perhaps it would be appropriate for me to briefly put this story in context by giving the
relevant backdrop and briefly introducing at least four characters from the dramatis personae: Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim, Chota Rajan and Salim Kurla. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar needs no introduction for most readers. A leading don of the Mumbai underworld, alongside the likes of Vardharaj Mudaliar a.k.a. Vardha Bhai, Arun Gawli, Haji Mastan, Karim Lala et al, he is by far the most wanted man, not only by the Indian police but law enforcement in general. Besides being the subject of Interpol Red Notice number A-135/1993 and declared a ‘Global Terrorist’ by the US government, he ranks number 3 in Forbes’ ‘World’s Most Wanted Fugitive’ list. By remaining elusive and beyond the reach of law, he has acquired a larger than life persona. His life has been the subject of many a film, many a book. Huge data on him exists in public domain and on the net.

But allow me to write my two bit on this ‘living legend’ of organized crime in India. Son of a retired ‘havaldar’ (Head Constable) namely Ibrahim Kaskar, who served in the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police, Dawood was born on December 26, 1955 at village Khed in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. He grew up in an overcrowded ‘chawl’ (shanty) on Temkar Street in Nagpada, Mumbai, largely inhabited by the Muslim community. A school drop-out, he and his eleven siblings – five brothers and six sisters - had an extremely harsh, indigent and brutal childhood. His father was a tyrant and often caned his wayward sons in public. Dawood and his grown-up brothers – mainly Shabir and Anees - felt that the only escape from hardship and bleak future was to take to crime.

To be continued.....