Marwat Khan Lodhi
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The night dragged on and the fiery Samad Khan, nephew of Karim Lala, was on his way out from a hotel room at Sikka Nagar, Khetwadi in South Mumbai.
A group of shooters hired by Dawood Ibrahim had tapped into Samad's telephone with the help of a notorious linesman.
The dice was rolled to bump off Samad.
A Kashmiri girl was used as a bait to draw Samad into the hotel room. As soon as the elevator used by Samad reached the ground floor, Dawood's shooters emptied their magazines.
Karim Lala, the proud Pathan, had the ubiquitous distinction of being the first underworld don of Mumbai. The rise of Karim Lala from a nondescript immigrant Pathan to a much-feared underworld don is no less than what Bollywood films are made of. In the early '30s, Karim Lala made his way from the hilly tracts of Shigal in Afghanistan to the bright lights of Mumbai. He never went back. Along the way, he also realised the needs of a city that was fast becoming a metropolis. Lala consolidated the Pathans in the city and made it known that goons were available, for a price, to settle disputes that one wanted resolved without resorting to the jurisdiction of law.
Lala's men were hired by ordinary people to terrorise and settle disputes through muscle power. Thus, started the cult of dadagiri on an organised scale.Later, Lala befriended other dons — Haji Mastan Mirza, Yusuf Patel and Varadarajan Mudaliar of Matunga — and supplied his men to them. He was also the one to outlive the other old-time dons. Lala's family, however, asserts that he wasn't involved in any malpractice. According to son-in-law Zaffar Khan, although Karim Lala was friendly with Haji Mastan and others, they had different business dealings.
"Karim Lala was always busy with his two hotels — Al Karim Hotel and New India Hotel. Later, he opened a travel and passport agency — New India Tours and Travels. He was never involved in smuggling, narcotics or any other illegal activity. But he got the blame because Haji Mastan and others were his friends," says Zaffar Khan.
Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind
His family is also quick to highlight the good work that Lala did under the aegis of Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, an organisation of Khudai Khidmatgars, of which he was the president for 30 years. According to Lala's family, the organisation was started after Partition and Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, appointed Lala to address the problems of the Pathan community.
Lala, to his credit, dispatched his duty with élan. He settled disputes, arranged shelter and food for the needy, organised marriages, Haj trips. He was the proverbial Godfather to the community and refused to get involved only in divorces. His wife Fauziya recalls, "Many people came for help in divorce but he always told them `Main milaoonga par alag nahi karoonga.'" Till his last days, Lala continued to be a mediator and address problems of not only the Pathan community but others as well. Perhaps what made him so popular was his lack of distinction for the rich and poor. His evening durbars at his house addressed the problems of both classes of society.
Bollywood
Lala was also known to be close to the film industry and had many friends in Bollywood whom he helped. Zaffar Khan recalls the time when actress Helen came to Karim Lala for help. "Helen's friend P.N. Arora had taken away all her earnings and was refusing to give her any money. A desperate Helen went to Dilip Kumar, who told her to meet Karim Lala. Helen came to meet Karim Lala with a letter from Dilip Kumar. Lala mediated in the matter and Helen got her money back," says Zaffar Khan. In fact, Lala inspired many reel characters in Bollywood. Kader Khan's role in Angaar, the character of Sher Khan enacted by Pran in Zanjeer, Badshah Khan in Khuda Gawah, all had shades of Karim Lala in them. Perhaps the best enactment, according to Lala's family, was Dharmendra's in Hathyaar. "It was like watching baba on screen," says his daughter. Sanjay Khan even offered him a role in Kala Dhanda, Gora Log but Lala refused it. The script was then changed and Sunil Dutt taken in. Actor Kader Khan recalls his association with Lala.
"Karim Lala was from the same area where I spent my childhood. While growing up, I used to often see Karim Lala come to the dargah. Being a fellow Pathan, I would watch him from a distance. He used to take advice from my father who was a scholar," says Khan, adding that Lala did a lot of good work for immigrants from Afghanistan.
"Pathans are a backward, illiterate, poor community. Karim Lala looked after them. He was a kind-hearted man who helped every person irrespective of caste or creed. He was a real don, resembling one of those characters in Hindi films," adds Khan.
While it would be easy to romanticise the philanthropic work done by Karim Lala, it may be recalled that Lala and his men introduced inter-gang rivalry and brought violence to the streets of Mumbai.
A fellow Pathan, police inspector Shamsher Khan Pathan, has no sympathies for Lala. When Mr Khan was posted as a sub-inspector in Dongri police station, he arrested Lala's bodyguard Shamshuddin for possessing an imported revolver without a license. An inquiry was conducted, as it was an illegal weapon, but Shamshuddin, subsequently, got bail.
"I have never sympathised nor supported Karim Lala even though I am a Pathan myself. I am a loyal government servant and Pathans and Pandits are equal to me. I have never met Karim Lala but I know that he used to avoid me. I had a reputation of being hot-tempered and I had arrested one of his bodyguards," says Mr Khan. He adds that he has never heard of any good deed done by Karim Lala and instead recalls the time when Lala was accused of setting a slum on fire.
"In 1984-85, there was a landlord-tenant dispute in Dawood Bagh in Shuklaji Estate, Nagpada. The landlord wanted the tenants to be evicted as he wanted to develop the land. There was a dispute and the slum was burnt down. Karim Lala was supposedly the one who set it on fire. A charge-sheet was filed in Nagpada. However, I heard that he was acquitted later," recalls Mr Khan. He also accuses Lala of introducing inter-gang rivalry in Mumbai. "In Mumbai, all the areas where dadagiri flourished were generally controlled by Muslims.
Conflict with Dawood Ibrahim
In the 1970s-80s, the Pathan leader Lala got into conflict with the Konkani gang led by Dawood Ibrahim which started the gang war," says Mr Khan.
In the mid-80s, as a result of this rivalry, Lala's nephew Samad Khan was killed by Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood also lost his brother Sabir when Amirzada, a Pathan from Lala's gang, killed him near Prabhadevi.Amirzada was arrested and brought to the sessions court where he was shot dead by David, a member of Dawood Ibrahim's gang.
It was the first time that a person had been shot dead in an open court in Mumbai during trial. David was injured and arrested but he later managed to escape from prison. Amirzada's brother, Alamzada,another important member of the Pathan gang, settled in Gujarat where he was killed in an encounter.
"Another gang war which led to a lot of bloodletting was between Karim Lala and Aziz, who had two sons Hamid and Majeed. Karim Lala and his brother Rahim Lala made a peace settlement with Aziz but a few days later Samad Khan killed Aziz. While Hamid was in jail, Munna Bohirlal Gupta, one of Lala's men, killed Majeed. An angry Hamid told one of his muhbola bhai Sohail to do something.
Sohail killed Rahim Lala, who was the father of Samad Khan and brother of Karim Lala. Sohail was himself killed in an encounter later. When Hamid came out of jail, he was shot dead inside Fun and Food restaurant by Munna," explains Mr Khan.
At this stage, the peers of the community decided to interfere. When Karim Lala went for Ummarah, a truce was called between him and Dawood after the peers allegedly made them swear on the Quran that there will be no more violence. After that, the two gangs left each other alone.
Lala's family concedes that there was a dispute between Dawood and Lala. "People were dying in the inter-gang war and it was time to compromise and make peace," says Zaffar Khan. Not only did Lala call a truce with Dawood, he also retired from the underworld, deciding to concentrate on his hoteliering business instead. "There was nothing left to fight for.
His brother and nephew were dead. His other nephew, Samad Khan's brother Rehman, was a businessman and not interested in the underworld," says Mr Shamsher Khan.
For all his censure against Karim Lala, Mr Khan concedes that he was much better than the present day dons. "Karim Lala and his men were into dadagiri, not extortion rackets like present-day underworld dons," he says.
In spite of being close to many prominent people from the film industry, Lala never used his contacts to extort money like it is done today. "Extortion started around 1986-87 by the Dawood Ibrahim and Arun Gawli gangs. Those were the peak years of extortion and later Amar Naik gang also came into the picture. After the Mumbai riots, Chhota Rajan and Dawood parted ways and now the main business of these gangs is extortion," says Mr Khan.
Hospitality
After retiring from the underworld, Karim Lala concentrated his energies on family and hotel business. Although the Karim Lala name continued to inspire terror, he mellowed with age. Bollywood star Jackie Shroff remembers how terrorised he was on meeting Lala.
"I had heard a lot about him and was quite scared. One day I got the opportunity to meet him and was taken aback to find a very nice and hospitable man. He kept on telling me `Pista badam khao,'" laughs Jackie.
In fact, Karim Lala's hospitality was well known. Guests were never allowed to leave until they had lunch or dinner with the family. Lala would entertain them in his home in Tahir Manzil, behind Novelty Cinema in Grant Road. He had moved into the first floor of this decrepit building 40 years back and stayed there for the rest of his life.
When he first moved into the Parsi colony, the neighbours were not quite happy. But within a few months, Lala put an end to the bootlegging and hafta business in the area, thus winning over the neighbours. "When baba died, many of our neighbours came and wept. They feel scared and insecure now specially after the Gujarat riots. They told us that they feel as if their Godfather has died," says Zaffar Khan.
When he was alive, Karim Lala was advised by many to move to a better place in Bandra or some other posh area. But he refused to move out of Aguiary Lane saying that it was a peaceful area and "mujhe yahan sukoon milta hai."
The sunset years of the don's life were spent in the house tending his plant, playing with his great-grandchildren and meeting visitors seated in his favourite rocking chair. Lala had converted the terrace of his house into a pretty garden and as much as he loved children, he made sure they steered clear from his plants.
His only regret, reportedly, was that he never had a son. Karim Lala married twice and both his wives produced a daughter each. In later years, Karim Lala adopted his eldest daughter's son Salim Khan who grew up at his house and now looks after his business. His first wife Fatima, who died around 10 years ago, and second wife Fauziya stayed together with him in the same house.
"He used to say `Main khushnaseeb hoon ki mujhe dono biwi achchhi mili.' He was a very nice husband and was very good to me. Unki aadatein bahut achchhi thi. He was good to everyone including our maid who has stayed loyal to us for 25 years now. No one had any cause for complaint," says wife Fauziya, who would have completed 50 years of marriage with Lala in another six months.
After retirement, Karim Lala became a very religious man. He evengave up his favourite Chivas Regal whiskey after a Haj pilgrimage.The only vice that he couldn't renounce was smoking. On February 19, around 8.30 pm, when he was reading namaz, he bent down to do shazda and never got up again. He was immediately taken to the Ismailiya Hospital at Byculla where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
For his family the very fact that he died while reading namaz is a blessing in itself. As his daughter says, "Hamare liye yehi bahut bari baat ha."
A group of shooters hired by Dawood Ibrahim had tapped into Samad's telephone with the help of a notorious linesman.
The dice was rolled to bump off Samad.
A Kashmiri girl was used as a bait to draw Samad into the hotel room. As soon as the elevator used by Samad reached the ground floor, Dawood's shooters emptied their magazines.
Karim Lala, the proud Pathan, had the ubiquitous distinction of being the first underworld don of Mumbai. The rise of Karim Lala from a nondescript immigrant Pathan to a much-feared underworld don is no less than what Bollywood films are made of. In the early '30s, Karim Lala made his way from the hilly tracts of Shigal in Afghanistan to the bright lights of Mumbai. He never went back. Along the way, he also realised the needs of a city that was fast becoming a metropolis. Lala consolidated the Pathans in the city and made it known that goons were available, for a price, to settle disputes that one wanted resolved without resorting to the jurisdiction of law.
Lala's men were hired by ordinary people to terrorise and settle disputes through muscle power. Thus, started the cult of dadagiri on an organised scale.Later, Lala befriended other dons — Haji Mastan Mirza, Yusuf Patel and Varadarajan Mudaliar of Matunga — and supplied his men to them. He was also the one to outlive the other old-time dons. Lala's family, however, asserts that he wasn't involved in any malpractice. According to son-in-law Zaffar Khan, although Karim Lala was friendly with Haji Mastan and others, they had different business dealings.
"Karim Lala was always busy with his two hotels — Al Karim Hotel and New India Hotel. Later, he opened a travel and passport agency — New India Tours and Travels. He was never involved in smuggling, narcotics or any other illegal activity. But he got the blame because Haji Mastan and others were his friends," says Zaffar Khan.
Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind
His family is also quick to highlight the good work that Lala did under the aegis of Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, an organisation of Khudai Khidmatgars, of which he was the president for 30 years. According to Lala's family, the organisation was started after Partition and Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, appointed Lala to address the problems of the Pathan community.
Lala, to his credit, dispatched his duty with élan. He settled disputes, arranged shelter and food for the needy, organised marriages, Haj trips. He was the proverbial Godfather to the community and refused to get involved only in divorces. His wife Fauziya recalls, "Many people came for help in divorce but he always told them `Main milaoonga par alag nahi karoonga.'" Till his last days, Lala continued to be a mediator and address problems of not only the Pathan community but others as well. Perhaps what made him so popular was his lack of distinction for the rich and poor. His evening durbars at his house addressed the problems of both classes of society.
Bollywood
Lala was also known to be close to the film industry and had many friends in Bollywood whom he helped. Zaffar Khan recalls the time when actress Helen came to Karim Lala for help. "Helen's friend P.N. Arora had taken away all her earnings and was refusing to give her any money. A desperate Helen went to Dilip Kumar, who told her to meet Karim Lala. Helen came to meet Karim Lala with a letter from Dilip Kumar. Lala mediated in the matter and Helen got her money back," says Zaffar Khan. In fact, Lala inspired many reel characters in Bollywood. Kader Khan's role in Angaar, the character of Sher Khan enacted by Pran in Zanjeer, Badshah Khan in Khuda Gawah, all had shades of Karim Lala in them. Perhaps the best enactment, according to Lala's family, was Dharmendra's in Hathyaar. "It was like watching baba on screen," says his daughter. Sanjay Khan even offered him a role in Kala Dhanda, Gora Log but Lala refused it. The script was then changed and Sunil Dutt taken in. Actor Kader Khan recalls his association with Lala.
"Karim Lala was from the same area where I spent my childhood. While growing up, I used to often see Karim Lala come to the dargah. Being a fellow Pathan, I would watch him from a distance. He used to take advice from my father who was a scholar," says Khan, adding that Lala did a lot of good work for immigrants from Afghanistan.
"Pathans are a backward, illiterate, poor community. Karim Lala looked after them. He was a kind-hearted man who helped every person irrespective of caste or creed. He was a real don, resembling one of those characters in Hindi films," adds Khan.
While it would be easy to romanticise the philanthropic work done by Karim Lala, it may be recalled that Lala and his men introduced inter-gang rivalry and brought violence to the streets of Mumbai.
A fellow Pathan, police inspector Shamsher Khan Pathan, has no sympathies for Lala. When Mr Khan was posted as a sub-inspector in Dongri police station, he arrested Lala's bodyguard Shamshuddin for possessing an imported revolver without a license. An inquiry was conducted, as it was an illegal weapon, but Shamshuddin, subsequently, got bail.
"I have never sympathised nor supported Karim Lala even though I am a Pathan myself. I am a loyal government servant and Pathans and Pandits are equal to me. I have never met Karim Lala but I know that he used to avoid me. I had a reputation of being hot-tempered and I had arrested one of his bodyguards," says Mr Khan. He adds that he has never heard of any good deed done by Karim Lala and instead recalls the time when Lala was accused of setting a slum on fire.
"In 1984-85, there was a landlord-tenant dispute in Dawood Bagh in Shuklaji Estate, Nagpada. The landlord wanted the tenants to be evicted as he wanted to develop the land. There was a dispute and the slum was burnt down. Karim Lala was supposedly the one who set it on fire. A charge-sheet was filed in Nagpada. However, I heard that he was acquitted later," recalls Mr Khan. He also accuses Lala of introducing inter-gang rivalry in Mumbai. "In Mumbai, all the areas where dadagiri flourished were generally controlled by Muslims.
Conflict with Dawood Ibrahim
In the 1970s-80s, the Pathan leader Lala got into conflict with the Konkani gang led by Dawood Ibrahim which started the gang war," says Mr Khan.
In the mid-80s, as a result of this rivalry, Lala's nephew Samad Khan was killed by Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood also lost his brother Sabir when Amirzada, a Pathan from Lala's gang, killed him near Prabhadevi.Amirzada was arrested and brought to the sessions court where he was shot dead by David, a member of Dawood Ibrahim's gang.
It was the first time that a person had been shot dead in an open court in Mumbai during trial. David was injured and arrested but he later managed to escape from prison. Amirzada's brother, Alamzada,another important member of the Pathan gang, settled in Gujarat where he was killed in an encounter.
"Another gang war which led to a lot of bloodletting was between Karim Lala and Aziz, who had two sons Hamid and Majeed. Karim Lala and his brother Rahim Lala made a peace settlement with Aziz but a few days later Samad Khan killed Aziz. While Hamid was in jail, Munna Bohirlal Gupta, one of Lala's men, killed Majeed. An angry Hamid told one of his muhbola bhai Sohail to do something.
Sohail killed Rahim Lala, who was the father of Samad Khan and brother of Karim Lala. Sohail was himself killed in an encounter later. When Hamid came out of jail, he was shot dead inside Fun and Food restaurant by Munna," explains Mr Khan.
At this stage, the peers of the community decided to interfere. When Karim Lala went for Ummarah, a truce was called between him and Dawood after the peers allegedly made them swear on the Quran that there will be no more violence. After that, the two gangs left each other alone.
Lala's family concedes that there was a dispute between Dawood and Lala. "People were dying in the inter-gang war and it was time to compromise and make peace," says Zaffar Khan. Not only did Lala call a truce with Dawood, he also retired from the underworld, deciding to concentrate on his hoteliering business instead. "There was nothing left to fight for.
His brother and nephew were dead. His other nephew, Samad Khan's brother Rehman, was a businessman and not interested in the underworld," says Mr Shamsher Khan.
For all his censure against Karim Lala, Mr Khan concedes that he was much better than the present day dons. "Karim Lala and his men were into dadagiri, not extortion rackets like present-day underworld dons," he says.
In spite of being close to many prominent people from the film industry, Lala never used his contacts to extort money like it is done today. "Extortion started around 1986-87 by the Dawood Ibrahim and Arun Gawli gangs. Those were the peak years of extortion and later Amar Naik gang also came into the picture. After the Mumbai riots, Chhota Rajan and Dawood parted ways and now the main business of these gangs is extortion," says Mr Khan.
Hospitality
After retiring from the underworld, Karim Lala concentrated his energies on family and hotel business. Although the Karim Lala name continued to inspire terror, he mellowed with age. Bollywood star Jackie Shroff remembers how terrorised he was on meeting Lala.
"I had heard a lot about him and was quite scared. One day I got the opportunity to meet him and was taken aback to find a very nice and hospitable man. He kept on telling me `Pista badam khao,'" laughs Jackie.
In fact, Karim Lala's hospitality was well known. Guests were never allowed to leave until they had lunch or dinner with the family. Lala would entertain them in his home in Tahir Manzil, behind Novelty Cinema in Grant Road. He had moved into the first floor of this decrepit building 40 years back and stayed there for the rest of his life.
When he first moved into the Parsi colony, the neighbours were not quite happy. But within a few months, Lala put an end to the bootlegging and hafta business in the area, thus winning over the neighbours. "When baba died, many of our neighbours came and wept. They feel scared and insecure now specially after the Gujarat riots. They told us that they feel as if their Godfather has died," says Zaffar Khan.
When he was alive, Karim Lala was advised by many to move to a better place in Bandra or some other posh area. But he refused to move out of Aguiary Lane saying that it was a peaceful area and "mujhe yahan sukoon milta hai."
The sunset years of the don's life were spent in the house tending his plant, playing with his great-grandchildren and meeting visitors seated in his favourite rocking chair. Lala had converted the terrace of his house into a pretty garden and as much as he loved children, he made sure they steered clear from his plants.
His only regret, reportedly, was that he never had a son. Karim Lala married twice and both his wives produced a daughter each. In later years, Karim Lala adopted his eldest daughter's son Salim Khan who grew up at his house and now looks after his business. His first wife Fatima, who died around 10 years ago, and second wife Fauziya stayed together with him in the same house.
"He used to say `Main khushnaseeb hoon ki mujhe dono biwi achchhi mili.' He was a very nice husband and was very good to me. Unki aadatein bahut achchhi thi. He was good to everyone including our maid who has stayed loyal to us for 25 years now. No one had any cause for complaint," says wife Fauziya, who would have completed 50 years of marriage with Lala in another six months.
After retirement, Karim Lala became a very religious man. He evengave up his favourite Chivas Regal whiskey after a Haj pilgrimage.The only vice that he couldn't renounce was smoking. On February 19, around 8.30 pm, when he was reading namaz, he bent down to do shazda and never got up again. He was immediately taken to the Ismailiya Hospital at Byculla where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
For his family the very fact that he died while reading namaz is a blessing in itself. As his daughter says, "Hamare liye yehi bahut bari baat ha."
