D-Gang member nabbed for MLA's 1994 murder

16 December,2010 06:53 AM IST |   |  J Dey

In sensational week-long operation, police arrest gangster from Mira Road in connection with BJP MLA Ramdas Nayak's murder


In sensational week-long operation, police arrest gangster from Mira Road in connection with BJP MLA Ramdas Nayak's murder

POLICE claim to have cracked the 1994 murder case of BJP MLA Ramdas Nayak with the sensational arrest of former D-Company member Sajid Batliwalla in Mira Road yesterday.

Batliwalla is also named in other murder cases, including those of Shiv Sena leaders R T Sagwekar and Vilas Sawant in Goregaon.


Encounter specialist Praful Bhosaleu00a0and Jt CP Himanshu Royu00a0were present when cops showed the numerous fake ID cards used by Batliwalla

A team led by encounter specialist Praful Bhosle shadowed the 48-year-old Batliwalla, who had changed his identity, for over a week before his eventual arrest.

Bhosle resumed duty last month after having been suspended for six years for his alleged role in the custodial death of 26-year-old software engineer Khwaja Yunus.

One of Bhosle's key informers was waiting patiently for the past few years for the encounter specialist to return to his job in Mumbai Police. He did not want to trust any other officer.
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The informer (name withheld to protect identity) was secretly tracking Batliwalla's movements for the past few years. He was also aware that the elusive gangster was preparing to escape from the country.

Batliwalla, in the meantime, had managed to mask his past. He assumed a new identity and became Mohammed Ahmed Memon alias Samir Patrakar.

"He started working as a so-called reporter. He even helped in getting an official from the tehsildar's office arrested in a corruption case in Thane in 2007," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy.

The arrest

Within days of Bhosle's taking charge as anti-robbery squad chief, the informer passed on vital information about the suspect to the officer and his deputy Ashok Khot.
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"I had to hurry, knowing that Batliwalla was planning to escape from the country," said Bhosle, a 1983-batch recruit.

A posse of crime branch officers, posing as small-time businessmen, began camping in Mira Road around the clock to track Batliwalla's movements.

But he had been managing to give officials the slip by speeding along little-known alleys and bylanes on his motorcycle.

Bhosle and his team wanted to ensure than Batliwalla was picked up secretly so that his associates were not alarmed.

After a week of chasing the quarry relentlessly in hired vehicles with dark glasses, the team of highly specialised 'catchers' managed to intercept Batliwalla's motorcycle on a lonely street.

It did not take long for the officers to make the prime suspect talk about his mysterious past.

Sources said Batliwalla was trembling when he learnt that Bhosle was heading the team which arrested him. Bhosle is named in 82 encounters between 1995 and 2004.

Fallout with Dawood

Batliwalla incurred Dawood Ibrahim's wrath for facilitating Konkani's trip to Karachi in 1998. Konkani wanted to become second-in-command of the gang by superseding Chhota Shakeel.

However, he was soon slain by Shakeel's henchmen at Dawood's behest. Batliwalla escaped certain death by seeking asylum from Dawood's sibling Anees.

In the past few years Batliwalla made a few secret trips to Pakistan to appease Anees and even carried out activities for him in Mumbai.

Sordid past

Batliwalla grew up in the mean streets of Antop Hill, along with Feroz Konkani, one of the highest-paid contract killers in the mid-1990s. Batliwalla inducted Konkani into the D-Company after the riots in 1993.

Batliwalla introduced Konkani to Anees, who, in turn, got him in touch with his elder brother Dawood. Soon, the hireling was entrusted with Dawood's Mumbai operations.

The Batliwalla-Konkani nexus resulted in a series of murders, including those of a few politicians.

Prominent among them were BJP MLA Ramdas Nayak in Bandra in 1994 and Shiv Sena leaders R T Sagwekar and Vilas Sawant in Goregaon.

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Ramdas Nayak D-Gang 1994 murder Praful Bhosale