Salim the Disposable (Tracing the absconder Salim Kurla) continues...

All was going well till his and his gang’s involvement in the serial bomb blasts of 1993 surfaced. (Also see ‘Memons: A Pyrrhic Victory’ on page XYZ) Dawood had to run from Dubai to Karachi where he stays presently in Defence Colony, Clifton under ISI’s protection.

Both Dawood and his brother Anees are accused in the blast cases as are many of his gang members and associates, which include Salim Kurla, the protagonist of this story. Salim Bismillah Khan, a resident of Kurla was given the moniker Salim Kurla by the D-company to differentiate him from several other Salims in the gang. This is a common practice in the underworld where several gangsters share the same first name. For instance, the D-company has Chota Shakeel, Lambu Shakeel, Salim Kutta, Salim Tempo and the protagonist of this story Salim Kurla.

Salim Kurla, besides being an extortionist and a hatchet-man in the gang, was immensely
interested in Bollywood and often visited film sets. His intimate knowledge of film personalities also helped his gang in identifying soft targets for extortion and aspiring starlets for carnal pleasures. Salim, himself, was an inveterate womanizer and married thrice before fate intervened.

Salim Kurla, as part of the larger conspiracy behind the March, 1993 blasts, sent four of his acolytes—Usman Khan, Sayyad Issaq, Sheikh Ibrahim and Mohammad Haneef—to Pakistan for training in handling of weapons and explosives. They underwent a 4-day intensive training camp organized by the ISI in the jungles near Islamabad. Interestingly, on the day of the blasts, Salim Kurla and Sayyad Issaq (one of the four sent by Salim to Pakistan for training) were in the lock-up of Bombay Police Crime Branch. They had been arrested in a case of extortion where a Gujarati businessman was the victim. Later, during investigation of the serial blasts all his four associates were arrested and sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment. However, Salim Kurla absconded and the CBI announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for his arrest.

To be continued.......