'Mahakali', gangster, used to place feet on victim's chest

Mumbai: Mahakali was a dreaded gangster who had a unique way of extorting money from his victims. The infamous extortionist would terrorise people, throw them on the ground, put his feet on their chest and demand the money. All this ended yesterday.

Mahakali was shot dead in an encounter with the police in Dehu Road last morning. The 26-year-old Rakesh Phulchand Dhakoliya alias Mahakali had been booked for more than 14 serious offences, including murder, three attempts to murder, extortion, body offences and assaults on the men in khaki.

The police received a tip-off around 9.15 am about Mahakali's presence in the vicinity of Jadhav Vasti, near Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar in Dehu Road, following which Senior Police Inspector Ram Jadhav formed two teams to catch the gangster.

When the police approached the spot, they asked him to surrender, but Mahakali, brandishing two pistols, opened fire on the police team. "In retaliation, we fired five rounds. One hit him in the leg, two near the chest and one in the stomach," Jadhav said. "He was immediately shifted to YCM hospital, where the CMO declared him dead."

The inquest post-mortem was performed on the body in the presence of the naib tehsildar. Mahakali had gone absconding after he and his gang attacked the Dehu Road police station team in December last year, injuring at least six of them.

Knowing the police were after him, Mahakali had changed his look. While earlier he kept his hair short, when yesterday's incident took place he had shoulder-length hair and a long moustache. Mahakali's new look even made the police teams think that he was Tanaji Panchal, one of his gang members, and this confounded them for a few minutes. The action began only after Constable Kiran Arote recognised Mahakali.

Escape attempt
Mahakali once tried to run away by spraying chilli powder in his escorts' eyes. But the escorts immediately activated the siren and got help from the staff of the local police station staff. This had happened after the Dehu Road police had arrested him in July 2008 from a small house near the Pavana dam. On the way to Yerawada jail, near Vishrantwadi he flung the chilli powder in the eyes of the three escorts.