ID :
192612
Mon, 07/04/2011 - 06:05
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/192612
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MUMBAI IN GRIP OF SIMMERING TURF WAR INVOLVING TERRORIST-LINKED UNDERWORLD DONS
By P. Vijian
NEW DELHI, July 4 (Bernama) -- After a decade of silence, Mumbai appears to be in the grip of a simmering turf war involving India's feared terrorist-linked underworld dons, two of whom are believed to have criminal networks operating in Thailand and Malaysia.
This follows the attempted murder of Iqbal Kaskar, brother of India's most wanted terrorist criminal Dawood Ibrahim in May, the brazen killing of a senior Mumbai crime journalist -- whose writings had exposed major underworld activities -- last month; and, the criminal intimidation of a top Bollywood producer last week.
According to a former senior Indian Intelligence Bureau (IIB), the three incidents signal just one thing: the dawn of a long-drawn inter-gang feud among powerful Indian gangsters.
"It is a territorial war and booty war among top gangs trying to control the underworld businesses," Maloy Krishna Dar, a former IIB joint director who spent nearly three decades in Indian intelligentsia, told Bernama in a recent interview.
Feared mafia lords -- Dawood, his 'lieutenant', Chhota Shakeel, their bitter rival Chhota Rajan, jailed don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and Ravi Pujari -- could possibly wage war to grab the lucrative underworld trade.
These dons, mostly living in exile, often remote-control their criminal networks and business empire, ranging from money-laundering and distribution of fake currency to international drug trafficking locally and overseas.
For almost a decade, a lull wafted over gang wars as the Mumbai police purged notorious underworld henchmen from the city -- eliminating at least 600 gangsters between 1993 and 2000.
Rajan, who once operated from his base in Bangkok and later in Malaysia in the 90s, has reportedly moved to the Philippines where he orchestrates his criminal empire, including the alleged murder of crime editor Jyotirmoy Dey on June 11.
Following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan last May, by United States commandos, Dawood is suspected to have fled his Karachi hideout to a West Asian capital.
But with all its trappings, Mumbai remains the bastion for ganglords, who have now corporatised their once clandestine activities, now investing in legitimate businesses and easily converting black money into white.
"Today, the underworld operates like a group of large diversified
conglomerate.
"It has its fingers in scores of businesses from drugs, to financing
regional films, running money-laundering networks, pilfering and selling oil and real estate," reported the Economic Times.
Dar adds: "Mumbai is a hub for money collection -- stock market, Bollywood, industries and builders are all located here, it is easy to collect money. What we are seeing is inter-gang rivalry to control this (trade)."
He also warned the rivalry between gangs, especially that of Dawood and Rajan, was increasingly taking a communal slant.
"Rajan is pro-India and Hindu terrorist while Dawood is a pro-Pakistan and Muslim terrorist...we need to watch this," he added.
-- BERNAMA
NEW DELHI, July 4 (Bernama) -- After a decade of silence, Mumbai appears to be in the grip of a simmering turf war involving India's feared terrorist-linked underworld dons, two of whom are believed to have criminal networks operating in Thailand and Malaysia.
This follows the attempted murder of Iqbal Kaskar, brother of India's most wanted terrorist criminal Dawood Ibrahim in May, the brazen killing of a senior Mumbai crime journalist -- whose writings had exposed major underworld activities -- last month; and, the criminal intimidation of a top Bollywood producer last week.
According to a former senior Indian Intelligence Bureau (IIB), the three incidents signal just one thing: the dawn of a long-drawn inter-gang feud among powerful Indian gangsters.
"It is a territorial war and booty war among top gangs trying to control the underworld businesses," Maloy Krishna Dar, a former IIB joint director who spent nearly three decades in Indian intelligentsia, told Bernama in a recent interview.
Feared mafia lords -- Dawood, his 'lieutenant', Chhota Shakeel, their bitter rival Chhota Rajan, jailed don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and Ravi Pujari -- could possibly wage war to grab the lucrative underworld trade.
These dons, mostly living in exile, often remote-control their criminal networks and business empire, ranging from money-laundering and distribution of fake currency to international drug trafficking locally and overseas.
For almost a decade, a lull wafted over gang wars as the Mumbai police purged notorious underworld henchmen from the city -- eliminating at least 600 gangsters between 1993 and 2000.
Rajan, who once operated from his base in Bangkok and later in Malaysia in the 90s, has reportedly moved to the Philippines where he orchestrates his criminal empire, including the alleged murder of crime editor Jyotirmoy Dey on June 11.
Following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan last May, by United States commandos, Dawood is suspected to have fled his Karachi hideout to a West Asian capital.
But with all its trappings, Mumbai remains the bastion for ganglords, who have now corporatised their once clandestine activities, now investing in legitimate businesses and easily converting black money into white.
"Today, the underworld operates like a group of large diversified
conglomerate.
"It has its fingers in scores of businesses from drugs, to financing
regional films, running money-laundering networks, pilfering and selling oil and real estate," reported the Economic Times.
Dar adds: "Mumbai is a hub for money collection -- stock market, Bollywood, industries and builders are all located here, it is easy to collect money. What we are seeing is inter-gang rivalry to control this (trade)."
He also warned the rivalry between gangs, especially that of Dawood and Rajan, was increasingly taking a communal slant.
"Rajan is pro-India and Hindu terrorist while Dawood is a pro-Pakistan and Muslim terrorist...we need to watch this," he added.
-- BERNAMA
