Rise of Mumbai underworld: Encounter specialists missing?

Mumbai: In the mid-90s, Mumbai resembled the Wild West, where shoot-outs and encounters were as common as the Friday potboiler release. No suburb was 'safe', no street was 'clean', as underworld gangs raged a battle of might against each other in an attempt to usurp land, power and a giant share of the booty.

Alarmed at the rise of underworld shoot-outs, the Mumbai police formed a squad of encounter specialists to tackle this menace on the streets of Mumbai. Over a period of 7 years, the encounter specialists gunned down over 600 gangsters bringing the underworld down on its knees.

However, in the last three months, the underworld has begun to raise its head again. A BJP MLA and an Independent MLA in Thane district received threatening calls from the underworld, bringing back haunting memories of the early 90s.

Three innocent lives have been lost in the past 10 days in extortion-related shoot-outs, as the underworld has begun flexing its muscle again. Two site engineers, Yogesh Kude and Somraj Devasi were shot dead at a builder's site office, while Angara Pujari, a store-owner was gunned down in Goregaon on Sunday.

So is there a need to bring back its encounter squad to battle the resurging underworld? Not really says Himanshu Roy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime). "Every Crime Branch officer is trained and equipped to deal with gangsters and the present lot of officers are quite capable of handling this menace," said Roy.

He was seconded by Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajkumar Vhatkar (city operations). "Currently, there is no need for the group of encounter specialists to be re-introduced in the Mumbai police. Our officers are adept at keeping the gang wars under control."

How they functioned:

Tracking network

Earlier, victims of extortion threats would approach the police knowing well that the encounter squad was capable of neutralising threats. The encounter specialists had the uncanny skill of tracking a gangster even if the suspect went underground for months. The elimination looked like child's play.

A large number of encounter specialists knew Mumbai's underworld like the back of their hand.

They would launch a manhunt minutes after the shootout. Now, a large number of policemen do not even have the list of gangsters active in their areas, leave alone nabbing or eliminating them.

Khabris

A large number of old-time informers do not have trusted officers with whom they can share inside information. And without the all-important tip from the khabri network, tracking shooters is like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

Hated Lot

Sources say that the encounter specialists were a neglected lot after the gangs were decimated. They were shunted to unimportant postings and many were exposed to the underworld. In fact, so serious was the case that some senior officers even wanted personal weapons of encounter specialists impounded.

Shoot outs

2006: 7 incidents;  8 killed
2007: 8 incidents;  10 killed
2008: 9 incidents;  9 killed
2009: 7 incidents;  8 killed
2010: 8 incidents;  9 killed
2011: 3 incidents;  4 killed

1983 batch

The 1983 batch of police officers gunned down 600-odd gangsters in Mumbai over the past two decades. In almost every encounter an officer from the 1983 batch of sub-inspectors was involved.

Officers like Praful Bhosle (85 encounters), Ravindranath Angre (50 encounters), Vijay Salaskar (50 encounters), Pradeep Sharma (101 encounters), Aslam Momin (34) and Arun Borude (47 encounters) became the nemesis of members of the underworld.

While Sharma has been incarcerated, Momin has been dismissed from service. Salaskar was killed on 26/11 and Borude committed suicide. Angre was  reinstated after a year-long suspension.

Special Squad

The squad did its job - that of breaking the underworld's backbone, but in the process inherited a burden of cases that broke their own backs, one by one.

The job was done, and now there was no need for these special squads. They were disbanded and abandoned, both in the same key.

Praful Bhosle (85 encounters)
In the dock: Custodial death of Khwaja Yunus in 2003
Current status: Reinstated. Heading anti-robbery squad

Daya Nayak (82 encounters)
In the dock: Dispropor-tionate assets case
Current status: Acquited by ACB and SC. Awaiting posting.

Ravindranath Angre (50 encounters)
In the dock: Threats to an estate agent in Thane  
Current status: Reinstated. Yet to be posted

Pradeep Sharma (101 encounters)
In the dock: Alleged fake encounter
Current status: In judicial custody

Aslam Momin (34)
In the dock: Allegedly spoke to Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar (case absolved)
Current status: Dismissed under Section 311

Arun Borude (47 encounters)
In the dock: Was named accused in the rape of a minor