Organised crime in India

The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found in some of India's major cities. Its actual size, and thus the extent of its influence, is unknown because it is the least heard-of internationally.

Mumbai Underworld

The first mafia elements was not Karim Lala but he was Ayub Lala who was the first president of Pakhtuk Jirga E Hind, an association of Afghani Pathan in Mumbai. Prior to 1940, there were around 13,000 Pathan in Mumbai and they were mainly suppliers of commodities and services to the British. During World War II, these Pathan were instrumental in setting up several red-light districts for British military men. Indians were not allowed to enter some of the prostitute houses that only catered for whites. It was at that time that Pukhtun Jirga E Hind was formed under the leadership of Ayub Lala who was known as Ayub Baba. During his tenure he was the Don but he never even slapped anyone in his life time. He had gone to Kashmir for tour and there he found a young boy aged around 6 years working as a coolie. Ayub Lala brought this boy to Mumbai and he was named a Kashmiri Lala. Kashmiri rose to such heights that he became to be known as Kashmiri Lala.

Kashmiri Lala became the 25 per cent stake holder in all businesses of ayub lala. He started his reign of terror and started extorting money from various marwadi businessmen. merchants complained to Ayub lala about extortions by Kashmiri lala. And Ayub lala was compelled to order killing of his own son kashmiri lala. Kashmiri lala was killed by a Sardarji and this was perhaps the fisrt known murder in the organised gang in mumbai. Ayub lala was taken to The crime branch and it was for the first time that Ayub lala was taken to police head quarters. After recording his statement he was allowed to go home. Same day Ayub lala left Mumbai and went to Panchghani and started a School there. While departing from Mumbai he said "Person who has stepped up the staircases of Police station is not worth continuing as a DON". After Ayub Lala left Mumbai, Karim lala took over as the president of Pakhtun Jirga E Hind. Prior to this Karim lala was a vendor selling Tincture bottles at Dongri area in south Mumbai. Karim Lala came to be known as first Don after he set up squads to steal material from Mumbai Docks. All gangsters started their career from stealing goods in Mumbai Docks. At that time haji Mastan Mirza was still a coolie. The first smuggler in Mumbai was Haji talab Hussein. After Haji talab Hussein was arrested by customs, the Arabs contacted Haji Mastan and Mastan rose to heights as smuggler and later DON in mumbai. While Karim lala and haji Mastan set their empires in south Mumbai, Varadrajan Mudaliyar set up his kingdom at wadala stealing the goods from railway wagons. man power and protection men were provided to haji mastan and Varadrajan Mudaliyar by Chandrakant Alias babya Khopade who was the chief of the Golden gang in Mumbai.

The first Bank dacoity was committed by a robber Anokhelal who came to mumbai from Delhi after seeing an english movie Highway 303. he formed a gang of local goons and committed the dacoity after doing two rehersals at the bank which were not noticed by the bank staff. The movie was later banned in Mumbai. the Bank looted was The Lloyds bank at Fort area in Mumbai. Rs. 16 lakhs were looted killing the watchman of the bank. The police detected the dacoity on an information about a 10,000 rupees worth "Chaddar" that was laid at HajiAli durgah. The first of mafia elements, or syndicates, perhaps had their origins in the gambling and bootleg liquor dens set up by Karim Lala in the 1940s. He was succeeded by Varadarajan Mudaliar, a Tamil migrant who arrived to Bombay along with an influx of south-Indian migrants. The increasing restrictions placed on the Indian economy by the socialist regimes of those days gave the Bombay underworld increasingly more means by which they could expand their activities. Ramabhai Naik in 1986 gunned down supari-king Karim Lala's nephew, the dreaded Samad Khan, and paved the way for Dawood Ibrahim.

A colleague of his, who was placed in jail during the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77), Mastan Mirza, more famously known as Haji Mastan also played a key role in structuring illegal gambling as an organised business. He formed Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985-86. He did not know how to read or write English, Hindi or Urdu. Aslam Kiratpuri a well known journalist, gave him ideas how to speak in public meetings after which he became a good speaker. In the year 1994 he died in Mumbai.

After the collapse of the cotton mills based textile industry in Mumbai in the 1980s, many workers were left unemployed, furthering the environment for crime that already existed. Various underworld dons rose to power. As Mastan's influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films and cast his mistress, an aspiring starlet, into small roles. He was also known for his links with the legendary actor Dilip Kumar. During the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77) he was imprisoned. Haji Mastan become as a Muslim leader in 1984.

D-Company was formed by Dawood Ibrahim, an acolyte of Hajji Mastana, and a descendant of migrants from the Konkan coast Ratnagiri district to be specific. It was amongst the most powerful criminal organisations in the world in the 80s, with many illegal and legal business ventures under Dawood's control. His group eventually split up creating separate gang of Chotta Rajan and Vinod Kumar Sharma(Chairman) sometime during the mid-nineties due to his use of communal violence for personal gain. Where his mafia had previously been secular, it now broke up on communal lines. Soon after the Bombay riots, a series of blasts that took place in Bombay in 1993 and changed Bombay underworld completely, he was accused, both by former colleagues and the police, for orchestrating the blasts. It is thought that in an attempt to gain political support from religious radicals that would legitimise him as more than a crook, he collaborated with various terrorist organisations. This led to the fragmentation of his criminal empire when Vinod Kumar Sharma, his lieutenant, broke away and gained support of powerful right-wing Hindu Nationalist politicians. Soon after the bombings he was forced to flee the city (now renamed Mumbai) and the country.

The Indian Mafia in the meantime has spread to other parts of India and has diversified onto various activities. In Mumbai, with the adoption of new police policies, crime has been going down in Mumbai and the mafia has been forced to flee the city to safer havens. Many of its crime bosses operate from different parts of the world, controlling the Mafia within India.

Mumbai underworld today

The underworld of Mumbai, the most populous city in India and capital of Maharashtra state, is a criminal network, which thrives on extortion, drugs and prostitution. The underworld is controlled by three or four major gangs, but most of them have been on the run from law recently.

The underworld's activities are not just limited to organized crime. Many 'dons' are supposedly linked to the heart of India's entertainment industry, otherwise known as Bollywood. The main role played by the underworld is that of financing the productions, although some outfits aim to control the script content and other thematic elements of the plot.

The Mumbai underworld today does not exist as one single gang, like the former D-Company, but rather as a collection of gangs which have formed from the parent gangs' split. Some are; Chotta Shakeel and Abu Salem gang (also known as D-Company), Chotta Rajan gang, Vinod Kumar Sharma(Chairman) gang, Ali Budesh gang and Arun Gawli gang, as well as other gangs which have arisen recently.

One of the most nortious gang is controlled by Sardar Badash Singh Grewal who is from Punjab and has settled in Mumbai. Mr Grewal is involved in countless murders and is one of the most feared gangsters in Mumbai. The police has also delcared that Mr Grewal has ties with the Babbar Khalsa a Sikh militant group of the 80's,and that Mr Grewal is getting funded by the militants. Also, many gangsters in Mumbai are getting hold up advance equipments of guns which even police officers do not have. The CBI have reported that Kashmiri militants, and Sikh militants of Punjab are selling off their weapons to the underworld mafia. Drug trade still continues with other parts of the world from Mumbai, and the city still sees a lot of bloody shootouts between gang members and police.

Activities

India is a major transit point for heroin coming in from the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent to Europe. India is also the world's largest legal grower of opium, and experts estimate that 5-10% of the legal opium is converted into illegal heroin. The pharmaceutical industry is also resposible for a lot of illegal production of illegal mandrax, much of which is smuggled into South Africa. Diamond smuggling via South Africa is also a major criminal activity, and diamonds are also sometimes used to disguise shipments of heroin. Finally, a lot of money laundering takes place in the country, mostly through the use of the traditional hawala system, although India has criminalised money laundering as of 2003.

Indian mafia in popular culture

In the 1970s, many of the most well known classic Bollywood movies were based around themes of fighting criminals and corruption at a time when crime was rising, and authorities were powerless. Classical Amitabh Bachchan films such as Zanjeer, Deewar, Don, Agneepath and Amar Akbar Anthony depicted the underworld and protaganists trying to overcome it. The Indian mafia has also been depicted in several films by Ram Gopal Varma, including Satya and Company. Kamal Haasan played the lead role in the Tamil movie Nayagan, directed by Mani Ratnam. Nayagan is in the Time Magazine's "All-Time 100 Best Films" list, issued in 2005. This movie represented Mumbai Don Varadarajan Mudaliar's life. Black Friday, Omkara, Shootout at Lokhandwala and Don (2006 film) are a few other films that depict the Indian mafia. There has also been a Bollywood version of The Godfather, called Sarkar.

2008 film Slumdog Millionaire have also depicted the Indian mafia.Hollywood film Shantaram starring Johny Depp also feauteres Indian mafia in its storyline.

Waaris is an Indian TV series on Zee TV with Indian mafia as its background.

Bollywood connections

The Indian mafia is notoriously very heavily involved in the film industry, providing films with funding and using them as fronts for other activities. Although in recent times police investigations have forced mobsters to make their activities more subtle, for most of Bollywood's existence stars openly displayed their mafia connections, attending parties with mafia dons and using their help to gain new roles.

Other cities

Muthappa Rai is one of the prominent figures in the Bangalore underworld.

See also

• D-Company
• Thuggee
• Mumbai Encounter Squad
• TADA

External links

• FrontLine Magazine Report Volume 20 - Issue 04, February 15 - 28, 2003
• Godfather III: The Terrorist