PM Modi’s ‘supari to dent my image’ remark: How the term for areca nut came to refer to hit jobs

Sibal said on Sunday, “Modi ji’s charge: ‘They have given a contract to..people…some within the country and some..outside the country to dig Modi’s grave’. Please let us know the names of these: 1) individuals 2) institutions or 3) countries… This cannot be a state secret. Let us prosecute them.”

Many Indian languages have the word supari used to refer to a contract for a killing or to mean a hit job that does not involve murder, but is intended to slander, defame, humiliate, or harass a political or ideological rival.

Last year, Union Minister V K Singh had called The New York Times “supari media” over its report on Pegasus that said India was among the countries that had bought the Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group’s spying software.

In a literal sense, it refers to the humble areca or betel nut, which is chopped into pieces and put in paan, or chewed on its own.

Origins of ‘supari’

How did supari come to have the connotation of a contract — though not necessarily one for murder?

According to retired Mumbai Police ACP Vasant Dhoble, who joined the force in the mid-70s, the connotation comes from a tradition in rural Maharashtra of inviting guests to a wedding with a paan and supari. Subsequently, paan-supari was given to signal commitment to a deal or contract — such as one to build or repair a house. The recipient of such a contract might say, “kamachi supari aali ahey (we have got the contract for the work)”.

The majority of those who joined the police came from rural Maharashtra, and they brought their language and expressions with them, Dhoble said. At some point, as activities of the Mumbai underworld came to dominate crime in the city and gangland killings became commonplace, the expression ‘uska supari isne diya’ came to be understood as giving the contract for a murder to a mercenary or hitman.

In his book ‘Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia’, journalist-author S Hussain Zaidi traced the origin of supari to an interesting ritual said to have been followed by Bhim, chief of the Mahemi tribe and overlord of Mahim. According to Zaidi, whenever Bhim had to assign a difficult task, he would call a meeting of his warriors at Mahim fort where, after a sumptuous feast, a plate with a betel leaf would be brought in and placed in the middle of the gathering. The man who picked the leaf was entrusted with the difficult task.

Underworld killings

Hit jobs were rampant in the streets of Mumbai in the 80s and 90s, and it was believed that a person who wanted a rival eliminated would give the supari to an underworld gang.

The value of the supari would depend on who the target was, and the likely ramifications of the hit. The money would be handed over usually in installments, with the final amount being paid “after the job was done”.

In most cases, the person giving the supari would also provide details of the whereabouts of the person, and the best possible time and place for the attack.

In the classic style of mafia hits, the individuals entrusted with carrying out the supari would watch the movements and habits of the target for a few days before attempting the execution. Immediately after the operation, when the police were expected to swing into action and the infuriated rival gang would be provoked to avenge the killing, the killers would go underground.

In the 90s, there were allegations that police personnel who had developed cosy relationships with one of the two big rival gangs — led by Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan — in Mumbai, would bump off gangsters of the other side in dodgy ‘encounters’.

Major hits

According to Zaidi’s book, one of the first contract killings was ordered by the gangster Haji Mastan on the real estate mafioso Yusuf Patel in 1969. Mastan paid two Pakistanis Rs 10,000 for the job, but Patel’s bodyguards foiled the attempt.

In his book ‘Khallas: An A-Z Guide to the Underworld’, journalist J Dey, who was himself killed by motorcycle-borne assailants in 2011, wrote about a sensational contract killing that established Dawood Ibrahim in the Mumbai underworld.

A supari was given to the gangster Bada Rajan to eliminate Amirzada Pathan of the rival and more powerful Pathan gang that had killed Dawood’s brother Shabbir Kaskar in February 1983. The job went to a young hitman named David Pardeshi, who shot Amirzada dead inside a Mumbai Sessions court on September 6, 1983 for Rs 50,000.

A major supari killing was that of music baron Gulshan Kumar, who was shot dead on August 12, 1997 outside a temple in Andheri. According to police, the plot to eliminate him was hatched in Dubai by Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim, and Rs 25 lakh was paid to the killers.

‘Matka king’ Suresh Bhagat was killed along with five others in 2008 after his vehicle was rammed by a truck. Investigations found that his wife Jaya Bhagat had given the contract for Rs 25 lakh as she wanted to take over his empire