‘Being a police officer is not a thankless job’

The former Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, and DIG, Maharashtra, recalls the turbulence and recompense of life in khaki

UNTIL I joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1967, I was based in Uttar Pradesh. I taught quantum physics for two years at the Benaras Hindu University. After the initial training, I got my first field posting at Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Between 1971 and 1975, I was posted as the Superintendent of Police (SP) –first in Ratnagiri during the 1971-72 Indo-Pakistan war and then in Nagpur. I was again SP, Aurangabad, during the Emergency years. Thereafter, I was Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in Pune and later in Mumbai, before being DCP again in Mumbai. Later on, I was elevated as Joint Commissioner of Police.
But it was not until 1991-92 that, career-wise, I first sensed the tension and excitement of being an IPS officer. That year, the dreaded Sikh terrorists, Jinda and Sukha, were hanged at Pune’s Yerwada jail for killing General Arun Kumar Vaidya. I was the Inspector General of Police, Prisons, in Maharashtra . Those days were the most trying and challenging.
Then I was the Jt CP, Crime Branch. Mumbai had witnessed the 1992-93 communal riots. That was followed by the March 1993 serial bomb blasts. Against this backdrop there was a massive reshuffle of the police force. Soon after the March 1993 blasts, the Government of India formed a special task force comprising men drawn from the Central government, IB, RAW, CBI and the Maharashtra police. I was asked to head the investigation team.
Sikh terrorism was in its dying phase in Punjab, thanks to some tough handling by KPS Gill. Since Punjab was bearing the brunt of it, the Centre faced a problem in keeping the arrested Sikh terrorists together, so they were spread out in jails in other parts of the country. We had big Central jails in Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Thane, Pune and elsewhere. In Pune alone there were about 150 Sikh terrorists lodged in the Yerwada jail along with Jinda and Sukha.

The Government of India’s response after 26/11 has not been commensurate with the seriousness of the crime. It suspended all dialogue with Pakistan. Children do these things. The lapse of a few years means we have squandered chances.

If this was not enough the underworld in Mumbai began to pose a big problem. Most of the dreaded gangsters were arrested under the TADA Act and lodged in different jails in Maharashtra, as far and wide as Dhule. More than 700 to 800 underworld gangsters were arrested and lodged alongside the dreaded Sikh terrorists. The situation posed a great security risk.
Both the Centre and State governments were involved in keeping these Sikh terrorists in Maharashtra’s prisons. We used to get intelligence inputs that the Sikh terrorists were planning to launch aerial attacks to rescue Jinda and Sukha. They even tried to smuggle a weapon inside the jail. In the jail, you have a dhobi who is actually a sepoy with access to high security cells inside the jail. They managed to rope in the dhobi with an offer of Rs 5 lakh. He agreed to deliver a consignment to Jinda and Sukha. He received a parcel from Amritsar. Inside was a fully loaded weapon and Rs 5,000. He kept the money and began an attempt to smuggle the weapon inside the jail.
But security was very tight. Everyone was being frisked, metal detectors were placed at strategic points. It was a multi-layered security cover. I had ordered that everyone, including myself, was to be frisked. The suspicious movements of the dhobi were noticed as the number of his trips to the high security cells increased. So I kept him under watch and the report on him confirmed my suspicions.
Upon questioning, he broke down and confessed that he had agreed to smuggle in the weapon. The pistol had seven rounds in it. Jinda and Sukha planned to kill some high-ranking jail officials before their hanging to prove that they still had the ability to strike. In October 1992, they were hanged. That was the closest threat to my life that I managed to foil.
Hardly had the Mumbai police recovered from the 1992-93 communal riots, its morale received yet another blow in the form of the March 1993 serial blasts. Shiploads of arms and ammunition from Pakistan had landed along the western coast, from Raigad district in Maharashtra to Gujarat. The huge haul of arms and explosives was unimaginable, it included three-and-a-half tones of RDX, 50,000 rounds of AK-57 ammunition, 1100 detonators, 500 hand grenades, 60-odd AK-47s and 9 mm pistols. It was as if they had come for a fullscale war. Half a kilo of RDX is enough to create havoc. We had to rebuild the morale of the police force. The investigation into the 1993 serial blasts restored that self-confidence. Dawood Ibrahim used his gang network to carry out the blasts. Weapons were provided by the ISI. Some members of his gang were trained in using arms and ammunition and making of IEDs. Thirty or 35 of these youths were sent from Mumbai via Dubai to Pakistan. The smuggling network of Mohammad Dossa and Tiger Memon was used to smuggle arms and ammunition through the sea route. Over 150 people were arrested following the investigations.

The 1993 blasts were the first direct involvement of the underworld in terrorist activities which posed a big threat to the country. It was a time when political killings and killings of many high-profile people took place.

THE 1993 blasts were the first direct involvement of the underworld in errorist activities which posed a big threat to the country. It was a time when political killings and killings of many high-profile people took place.
Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs, MLCs like Prem Kumar Sharma, Ramesh More, Ramdas Nayak, trade union leader Datta Samant and Sunit Khatau were killed. Many in Bollywood also began getting threat calls. The underworld had invaded and gained a stranglehold on Bollywood. We managed to take on the underworld gangsters in terms of extortion, supari (contract killings) and smuggling.
There cannot be a closure to the case. Memon and Ibrahim, the brains behind the case, are still at large. We have to get them. The Government of India has been exerting pressure on Pakistan to hand them over to us. Ibrahim is still a problem. He has now become a handmaiden of the ISI and has been declared an international Most Wanted terrorist. Both are still in Pakistan though they are denying it.
Even in the case of 26/11, the trial of Tawahaur Rana and David Coleman Headley cannot be said to be over in Chicago. The incident took place in India, the victims were Indians and India. But the trial takes place in the US. The US should have helped us in getting the accused to stand trial here. All our laws have been violated. And all that we could lay our hands on was Kasab, a simple operative.
The US has laws whereby they can apprehend anyone wanted for such acts if the victim is a US national or the US itself and bring him to trial there. Unfortunately, we do not have such a law. The Government of India’s response after 26/11 has not been commensurate with the seriousness of the crime. It suspended all dialogue with Pakistan. Children do these things. The lapse of a few years means we have squandered chances to put Pakistan under pressure internationally. We must have a long-term strategy. Attacks like that on Parliament, the Akshardham temple and elsewhere will not stop. Pakistan will try to bleed India through a thousand cuts. The government needs to take strong action to ensure our safety. Have we done that? No.

Jinda and Sukha planned to kill some high-ranking jail officials before their hanging to prove that they still had the ability to strike. In October 1992, they were hanged. That was the closest threat to my life that I managed to foil.

The attack on our Parliament was an attack on our sovereignty, the attack on Mumbai was an attack on our financial future. A strong response was expected. A deterrent step was needed. There was this debate: should India have attacked? Our then External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, went on to say “India will respond’’ and “All options were open if Pakistan did not stop the attacks’’. All this proved to be empty threats.
The option was to recall our High Commissioner to Pakistan, severe all diplomatic ties and impose trade and economic sanctions. The third would have been to mount an all-out diplomatic offensive at the international level, exposing Pakistan and its role in promoting global terrorism. We were found wanting. The whole country was totally united behind the government. Even the Leader of the Opposition declared the Opposition’s full support to the government.
WE just bark, we do not bite. Unless we bite, Pakistan will not come to its senses. Pakistan is still harping that Kashmir is the core issue. We have been in complete confusion. I agree that Kashmir is the core issue. Unless we are able to resolve it, we will continue to face a real threat. Our problem will continue even if the US pulls out of Afghanistan. Outof- the box thinking is needed. For the sake of Kashmir, the rest of the country cannot be punished. We are being bullied. Separatists like Syed Shah Gilani continue to bully us. We cannot give up Kashmir. It is part of our secular fabric.
Prior to my retirement in 2002 as DIG of Maharashtra, my last high-profile posting was as CP, Mumbai. My stint in Mumbai was for almost a decade. I took charge at a time when Bollywood had threatened to move out, following extortion threats, industrialists had threatened to shut shop. But the most demanding and prominent highlights of my Mumbai stint were the arrests of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in July 2000, of Bollywood financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah, and actor Sanjay Dutt in connection with the 1993 blasts.
I do not feel that being an IPS officer is a thankless job. It is very satisfying and fulfilling. Which other job can give you the same amount of satisfaction from giving succour to the aggrieved and the poor? Even after leaving active service, I still get calls for help from ordinary people. The other day, at night, a youth called on my mobile, wanting to speak to the Mumbai Police Commissioner. I had been sleeping. I told him it was not the number of the Mumbai CP. He insisted, so I told him to get in touch with the police control room. To which the persistent youth told me that he got this number from the control room itself. Instead of being rude to him, I wanted to know why he wanted to speak to the Mumbai CP. He wanted the number of the SP, Latur. Probably he had some problem in Latur which he wanted to solve through the Mumbai CP. Then I told him I was no longer the CP of Mumbai and had retired long ago. People like this youth still seek my help and that is reassuring and satisfying.

(As told to Prashant Hamine)