I joined the Mumbai police force as a sub-inspector in 1983 and voluntarily retired as senior police inspector after serving 30 years. I saw the transformation of crime in the city. In the 1980s, there were galli ka bhais, who indulged in fierce streetfights with soda bottles, bamboo sticks and iron rods over trivial issues of how to share the spoils.

There were many gang lords, including Dawood Ibrahim and his former key aide Chhota Rajan. They were interested only in local power to control goods like gold, clothes, etc, smuggled from Dubai. Smuggling was at its peak and though it was a matter for the Customs Department, our senior officer Arvind Inamdar confiscated huge caches of gold smuggled from Dubai in 1988 and 1989. With the passage of time, the bhais graduated from iron rods to revolvers, pistols and carbines. As organised crime began to take root, policing became tougher.