Airports to studios: Mumbai’s troubled history with hostage standoffs and shootouts

One of the most infamous encounters was the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout, when the Mumbai Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, led by Aftab Ahmed Khan, cornered gangster Maya Dolas and his men in a residential building. The six-hour gun battle ended with all seven gangsters dead and hundreds of terrified residents trapped inside their homes. Though not technically a hostage situation, it was one of the most intense sieges in Mumbai’s history.

A year later, in 1992, gunfire erupted inside J.J. Hospital when armed men of the Dawood Ibrahim gang entered the premises and opened fire on members of a rival gang receiving treatment. The shootout left several people injured and sent shockwaves across the city.

The 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 remains the most horrifying example of hostages and gunfire in the city’s modern history. Armed terrorists laid siege to multiple locations, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Nariman House, where several people were held hostage.

The city, however, has also seen hostage-taking scenarios involving disturbed or desperate individuals.

In May 2003, Mumbai’s then Sahar International Airport, now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, witnessed a rare internal security crisis when a 22-year-old Central Industrial Security Force constable, Raj Namdeo, shot his superior, Deputy Commandant A.R. Karanjkar, and held six of his colleagues hostage inside the Terminal 2C departure area. According to newspaper reports, Namdeo, reportedly under work-related stress, fired nine rounds from his self-loading rifle during an argument, killing Karanjkar instantly. He then locked himself in a restricted zone of the terminal with five women and one male CISF personnel as hostages, disabling CCTV cameras and triggering an immediate lockdown of airport operations.

The tense standoff lasted nearly seven hours as airport police, crime branch officers, and CISF commandos surrounded the area while negotiators attempted to calm him. Eventually, around 12.40am, after prolonged talks involving senior officials and his parents, Namdeo surrendered without further bloodshed. Subsequent investigations revealed that he had been suffering from depression and extreme fatigue due to long duty hours. He was dismissed from service in June 2003 and charged with murder, attempt to murder, wrongful confinement, and arms offences.

Five years later, in October 2008, Mumbai was again shaken when 25-year-old Patna native Rahul Raj hijacked a crowded BEST bus on route number 332, Andheri–Kurla, near Bail Bazaar in Kurla. Reports state that Raj boarded the bus around 9.20 am, brandished a country-made revolver, and ordered the driver to head toward the residence of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, claiming he wanted to protest against alleged attacks on North Indians in Mumbai.

Around 70 passengers were trapped as police quickly cordoned off the area. Raj insisted he did not intend to harm passengers, but when negotiations broke down and he allegedly fired at officers, police retaliated. The exchange left Raj dead from multiple gunshot wounds, while all hostages escaped unharmed. The post-mortem report noted five bullet injuries, and an inquiry later found the shots were fired from more than four metres away.

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