Spy versus spy

The Mumbai underworld sees it as a proxy war between the RAW and the ISI, reports ARUNKUMAR BHATT.

IF POWER and pelf motivate dons, loyalty and fear help them govern their gangs. All these emotions boiled over in the Mumbai underworld after the attack on Rajan Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan, a Maharashtrian Dalit. The son of a municipal sweeper, Rajan is Nana (father figure) to his gangsters and Seth (respected businessman or boss) to his beneficiaries in northeast Mumbai, the core of his support base, cutting across caste and once even communal lines.

Once the surprise and shock died away, fear gripped the Rajan gang. But the effect of the news that he had escaped was equally dramatic. Soon fear made way for renewed loyalty. Then it was the turn of the rival Dawood Ibrahim gang to be apprehensive.

In an underworld syndicate, the elimination of the top man often leads to its disintegration if the second-in-command or the likely successor is also eliminated quickly. Top Rajan aides including Guru Satam, an old man known for his firearm skills, Om Prakash Singh or OP believed to be the operational brains, and Bandya Mama, the don's financial manager, immediately ducked for cover, wondering who would be the next target. The third and fourth rankers left their territories, fearing attacks from the emboldened `D' Company.

Elimination of Rajan and disintegration of his gang would have meant total control for `D' Company of Mumbai's underworld and perhaps the Indian subcontinent. `D' company already has strong connections with or control over many key outfits operating on the west coast and upcountry. It is also a principal instrument of the Pakistani espionage network, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Rajan, who had split from Dawood following the bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993, was the only challenge to `D' Company. The killing of at least one more top Rajan aide was necessary, after his supposed death (first reports had said he had been killed in the attack in Bangkok), to bring about his gang's catapulation.

It is the juniors who figure in the police records and perhaps get punished because of their direct involvement in contract killings, extortion and drug trafficking. Their families depend on the `merit pay' from the boss. But the loyalty of these `soldiers of fortune' evaporates with the departure of the don, unless an effective succession takes place. The fear of being hunted down by the police also pushes them to the rival gang.

Everyone, including the police, was apprehending a gangwar, perhaps a final one. But before this could happen, Rajan's key aides opted for a smooth transition instead of any war of succession. OP was accepted as the next don. Then came the news of Rajan's survival. OP and Guru quickly reinforced the support to Rajan, using both their contacts in the Bangkok police and the Thai underworld.

For Rajan, the loyalty of his men remains intact. No one in the underworld believes that he will be deported home to cool his heels in the lockup of the Mumbai police and face a trial. In the assessment of the underworld, this is a proxy war between the ISI and its Indian counterpart, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). `Nana' has supplied useful information to RAW and the latter is expected to help out now. This generates fears in `D' Company that he will strike back with a vengeance. He has to his credit failed attempt on the lives of Chhota Shakeel and his boss, Dawood.

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