Mumbai dons' kids step out of parents shadow, see new identity

MUMBAI:The kingpins of the city’s underworld have either fled, been killed inencounters or called it a day. But GenX is stepping out of their parents’feared shadows in search of a new identity in Mumbai as bankers, doctors,engineers, pilots and developers.Police officers who have closelyseen the underworld say families of these gangsters are well acquainted with thepitfalls of their lives and choose not to follow their footsteps. “Timeshave changed. The youngsters today want respect in society and a bright future.They don’t want to be termed as ‘underworld heirs’ but aretrying to make their own identity,” says a senior police official whoheaded the encounter squad for a decade.Reshma Naik was only 11 when her gangster father Amar Naik was killed in a police encounter on July 10, 1996. However, Naik’s wife planned both her daughters’ education meticulously. Reshma, now 25, completed her commercial pilot’s flying training course from an aviation academy in Florida, United States. Her younger sister Aditi (23) is a doctor. The family plans to open a hospital in the city for the poor.The thirst for education also touched their extendedfamily. Archana, daughter of Amar Naik’s younger brother and erstwhiledon, Ashwin Naik, has done a course in dentistry. Like her cousin Reshma,Archana too studied in an English-medium school, prefers western outfits and achic straightened-hair look. Archana was in fact an anonymous face till she madea media debut with her father when he met Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray threeyears ago. At that time, rumours were rife that Naik was joining a politicalparty, but he insisted he had only gone to seek Thackeray’s blessings.Naik was earlier arrested for the alleged murder of his wife Neeta, but waslater acquitted by court. Gangsters have been glamorised by cinema,but the children of Mumbai’s dreaded dons - men who emerged from anonymityto become feared names - seem to prefer the daily grind. Many of their parentsare still on ‘wanted’ lists, but all the young brigade wants is agood education, as they feel it will lead to a good life.Fugitivedon Chhota Rajan, who is believed to be hiding in West Asia, was recently bookedfor plotting the murder of senior journalist J Dey. His wife Sujata was arrestedin 2007 for allegedly extorting money from city-based builders and booked underthe stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act but later got bail.However, their two daughters, Namrata (19) and Mala (17), are on a differenttrack. After studying in Goradia English Medium High School, they are pursuingengineering in two city colleges, Namrata in the second year and Mala in thefirst. His youngest daughter, Pallavi (11), is in class VI.Jaileddiesel smuggler Mohammed Ali Shaikh, cooling his heels in a special cell inArthur Road jail for plotting the murder of a shipping firm owner in Septemberlast year, has also focused on his children’s education. Daughter Rukhsar(25) did her MBA (finance) from a city college and was offered a job in awell-known bank last year. His son, an arts graduate, looks after hisfather’s shipping management company. Sources close to Shaikh say healways wanted his children to study well to give them a newidentity.Some have opted to enter politics.Gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli’s daughter, Geeta (28), a student ofthe English-medium St Agnes High School, Clare Road, Byculla, is currently amunicipal corporator of ward number 205 (Chinchpokli, Byculla andMominpura).Then there is Girish, the eldest son of fugitive gangsterGuru Satam. Girish, who studied civil engineering, is now a developer.“The children of underworld figures want to make a name for themselvesminus the crime records of their elders. They are studying and getting goodopporutunities in MNCs as well,” said a seniorcop.: A former key aide of don Dawood Ibrahim,Rajan began by black marketing movie tickets at Chembur and later joined RajanNair (Bada Rajan). He became the gang’s chief after the latter’smurder and joined Dawood but fled to Dubai in 1988. He is wanted in over 20cases of extortion, murder, smuggling, drug trafficking and the like. After the1993 blasts he broke away from the D-gang and survived a September 2000 anattempt on his life. His family lives inChembur.: TheParel-based extortionist was a terror for businessmen in central Mumbai. He fledthe country in 1995 and is believed to be in Bangkok. Satam, police say, isvirtually bankrupt. His family is still inMumbai.:Originally from Uttar Pradesh, Shaikh worked at the Mumbai docks and laterstarted his own business. His men would pilfer fuel from ships in the high seaand within a decade he became the king of oil smuggling. Arrested in the 90s butacquitted, he was arrested again in September 2010 for plotting the murder ofshipping firm owner, ChandMadar. The onlydon now living in Mumbai, he is currently lodged in Taloja jail for the murderof Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jhamsandekar. Earlier, his men had allegedlyplotted the killing of Dawood’s brother in-law, Ibrahim Parkar. Known as‘Daddy’ to his followers, he floated his political outfit in 1997,Akhil Bhartiya Sena, and won an assembly election in 2004. His nephew is an NCPMLA while daughter Geeta is acorporator.Naik, an engineering graduate, with several cases to his name, was paralysedafter being shot at in April 1994 by a rival gang on the premises of a sessionscourt at Fort. Later accused with plotting his corporator wife Neeta’smurder on November 13, 2000, he has now been acquitted of all charges and stayswith his daughter Archana, a dentist, and family atChinchpokli. Elderbrother of Ashwin Naik, he was wanted in many extortions and murders and hademerged as a threat to the Arun Gawli gang in central Mumbai. He was killed in apolice encounter.