This city also attractsindividuals who do not care to bat an eyelid while killing or betraying a nearor dear one.
The underworld, much hasbeen written about it, but rarely does one come across a book which provides acomprehensive account of the growth and development of the mafia. Starting with men like Nanhe Khan, WahabPehelwan,Varadarajan Mudaliar and finally, the ultimate don, Dawood Ibrahim,veteran journalist Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai tells the stories of these violent menin a manner that is quite calm and collected.
Dawood Ibrahim became powerful after thepolice decided to use him to whittle the power of various Pathan gangsters.
The best bit about Dongri to Dubai is the analysis of Dawood Ibrahim’scharacter. According to the author, Dawoodis not an Islamic fundamentalist and that his alliance with the ISI is one bornof necessity rather than fanaticism. Dawood fled to Dubai in 1986 following aphone call from a senior politician who tipped him off of plans to arrest him. Whenthe ISI sought assistance for carrying out the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, Dawoodvolunteered Tiger Memon a genuine Islamic fundamentalist according to theauthor. By getting Tiger Memon involved in the blasts, Dawood managed to gethis rival to flee India. Dawood had no idea that the blasts would be of suchmagnitude and when he realised the repercussions, he called up noted lawyer RamJethmalani and offered to surrender. He however demanded that he be tried onlyin respect of the 1993 bomb blasts and that he should be kept under housearrest rather than in jail.
Dawood left Dubai and moved to Pakistan towardsthe end of 1994. Will he come back? Maybe not, there are too many politiciansin India who would not want him to spill all his beans.
This an excellent book for anyone interested in Mumbai’smafia or Dawood Ibrahim in particular.
