In the well-known Indian city of Mumbai the machines of the cotton-making mills were in place, but their wheels had stopped spinning. The sirens had stopped ringing & the smoke from the chimneys had stopped.
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| Dawood Ibrahim: How did the children of the Bombay mill workers become the king of the criminal world 40 years ago? |
When several textile mills in Mumbai finally closed after a long strike millions of workers lost their jobs. It did not take long for these families to face financial difficulties after losing their jobs.
Unemployed and helpless many young people from working families decided to step into Mumbai's dark world to earn money.
Senior journalist Prabhakar Pawar says that when the mills closed children of the mill workers lost their education. People did not have money to support their families. That why some young people have entered the world of crime.
Gangster Amar Naik
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| Gangster Amar Naik |
Leaving behind the families of mill workers the two young men who stepped into the world of crime later became prominent figures in the Mumbai underworld. 1 was Arun Gawli who came from Dagdi Chaal (Kutchi Basti) of Baikola and the other was Amar Naik who came from Dadar.
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has written in his book Let Me Say Now that both Arun Gawli & Amar Naik belonged to the family of ordinary mill workers. But both soon made their way into the underworld.
Before becoming a notorious gangster, Arun Gawli worked at the Mahalakshmi Mill. A large number of mill workers lived in areas of central Mumbai such as Prabhadevi Chinch Pokli Satara, Majegaon Dadar Baikola Agirpara & Sat Rasta collectively known as Grangaon.
Gangster Babu Reshma
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| Gangster Babu Reshma |
There were also trade unions in cotton mills. Gradually trade unions were taken over by anti social elements. Babu Reshma a thug from Agra Pada controlled these unions in the 1980s.
Retired ACP Ishaq Bhagwan who has been working in the Mumbai Police for 35 years has witnessed bullying in the mill areas and then entering the world of crime against the children of mill workers.
He said: Babu Reshma was active in the National Mill Workers Organization. He threatened the workers & disrupted the strike. He was also getting help from Rama Naik of Baikola.
At that time, Babu Resham in Agra Pada Rama Naik in Baikola Valaji Palaji in Mumbai Central and Narendra Narvikar gang were working in the area of Roxy Theater.
Gangster Dawood Ibrahim
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| Gangster Dawood Ibrahim |
Initially the children of the mill workers started selling movie tickets in black & then they got involved in petty crimes like intimidation and stabbing says Bhagwan.
Crime and bullying were not limited to the mill areas but under the control of underworld players like Haji Mastan Yousuf Patel & Karim Lala the sea areas and ports were also coming under their control. Dawood Ibrahim of Dongri was considered to be the right hand of Haji Mastan.
Senior journalist Prabhakar Pawar said: Dawood Ibrahim a Muslim gangster from Konkan always lived with Marathi boys. At that time, a large number of the children of the mill workers had joined Dawood gang. They were with Dawn. There was a passion for work. After the closure of some cotton mills in the area in 1997 children of the workers became active in the gang.
Gangster Ram Naik
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| Gangster Ram Naik |
Babu Reshma was killed on 5 March 1987 in a gang war. Ram Naik took control of his gang and extended his sphere of influence from Baikola Agra Pada to Lower Parel. The children of mill workers living in these areas joined the gang.
Ram Naik lived in the housing board building in Agra Para. The mill was a building in front of the workers dugout. In this move Arun Gawli son of a mill worker lived with his family.
Retired police officer Ishaq Bhagwan said: Arun Gawli was not very active at that time. They are slowly entering the world of crime.
Underworld gang war
This was the period when the mutual gang war in Mumbai underworld took the path of bloodshed. During the day shots were fired in the streets for the supremacy of the gang. Several youths were killed in the gang war between Dawood & Arun Gawli.
After Ram Naik was killed in a police encounter Arun Gawli took charge of the gang. Arun Gawli strengthened his gang in Baikola Agra Pada Sat Rasta. On the other hand a new gangster emerged in the underworld in form of Amar Naik from Dadar. The gang also included young children from the families of mill workers.
Prabhakar Pawar explains how the youths had to work: Some youths were asked to keep an eye on the court premises. Some had a responsibility to keep an eye on activities in the area. Some were charged with extortion for extortion while others were designated as young sharpshooters.
According to Pawar Arun Gawli and Amar Naik took care of the youth for many years. The battle for supremacy between the two factions was also famous. Amar Naik brother Ashwini Naik was produced before a TADA court in Mumbai on April 18, 1994 & was shot dead by a shooter dressed as a lawyer as he was leaving the court.
Bhagwan says that Ravinder Sawant who shot Ashwini Naik was also the son of a mill worker. Ravinder Sawant family lived in Jogesh wari & Sawant joined Arun Gawli gang a few days before the murder Was
The sourdough mill was then in the Baikola area. The owner of the mill Sunil Khatau had a good relationship with Arun Gawli. After the death of Ram Naik Arun Gawli had no management of money.
Prabhakar Pawar says Sunil Khatau had given jobs to hundreds of youths of Arun Gawli gang in his mill. In this way Khatau was financially supporting Arun Gawli.
This proved to be the reason for his murder. Sunil Khatau was assassinated in broad daylight on 7 May 1994. Amr Naik suspected that Khatau was financing Gawli. Pawar says that then Amar Naik killed Sunil Khatau.
Rakesh Maria writes in his book After the assassination of Sunil Khatau I saw the youth getting frustrated with the underworld. The youth of Grangaon felt that they were only being exploited in the underworld. These were young people who joined the underworld because of easy access to money and other attractive benefits.
One of the reasons for this was the Mumbai Police campaign after the rise of gang war. Mumbai Police had launched a crackdown on the gangs of Amar Naik & Arun Gawli. By 1994, Mumbai police had killed 14 members of the Amar Naik gang in an encounter. After that the gang was completely destroyed. The main shooter of Arun Gawli gang was also killed by the police due to which this gang became inactive forever.
Arun Gawli later entered the world of politics & in 2004 he became an MLA from Mumbai Chinch Pokli constituency.
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