Encounter, a new chapter

MUMBAI, May 18: Following police commissioner Ronnie Menconca's exhortation to his men to answer gangsters in their own language,'' Mumbai...

MUMBAI, May 18: Following police commissioner Ronnie Menconca8217;s exhortation to his men to 8220;answer gangsters in their own language,8221; Mumbai police re-opened their encounters account by killing Mohammad Farid Taslim Shaikh, a member of the Chhota Shakeel gang, at Charni Road this morning.

After receiving a tip-off that 30-year-old Shaikh and his accomplices would be meeting near the Jeejeebhoy School at Maharshi Karve Road across Charni Road station in the early hours of the morning, the police party laid a trap for the killers, a police press release said.

According to the deputy commissioner of police, zone-II, under whose instructions V P Road police laid a trap for the gangsters, 8220;A special police team was formed under the leadership of V P Road police station8217;s senior PI Suresh Jadhav, and men were drawn from other police stations as well.8221;

The police team arrived at the spot at 5 am. One hour later, a blue Maruti car dropped a person at the same place and left. Identifying the man as Farid,Jadhav alerted his officers. When the police officers began closing in on him, Farid whipped out a pistol and fired on the police team in spite of the warning issued to him. One of Farid8217;s bullets hit the bullet-proof vest of police sub-inspector Ashok Khot.

The rest of the story, as described by the police, is the now-familiar script of a police press release after an encounter. After Farid attacked, the police party opened fire in self-defence, and in the exchange of fire, the gangster was injured and collapsed on the ground. Police altogether fired five rounds on Farid, and recovered a 7.62 mm pistol from him.

Farid was then rushed to J J Hospital for medical treatment, where he was declared dead before admission. Injured police officer Khot was sent to Nagpada police hospital for examination.

Shaikh Farid had been declared by the police as an absconder8217; in six cases and was wanted in four cases. Cases of murder, robbery, extortion, abduction and causing grievous hurt had been registered againstFarid in various police stations, including V P Road, Nagpada, Dongri, Sewri, Malwani, Agripada and Tardeo police station and also the Chatushringi police station of Pune.

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8220;We suspect Farid8217;s involvement in several major shootouts done at the behest of Chhota Shakeel,8221; DCP Singh said. Farid was allegedly involved in the killings of Khalid Bakerywala in January 1997, Dawood Ibrahim8217;s uncle Iqbal Chacha in 1996, Anil Raul, Raja, and Salim Mansuri at Tardeo in February this year and the abduction of a Pune-based jeweller and a Sewree-based businessman. Following the public interest petitions filed in the court in connection with the encounter of Javed Fawda and Sada Pawle in October last year, the police had holstered their guns.

This led to a renewed strike by gangsters, and the total number of gangwar killings during the last five months went up to 136. However, Mendonca gave an indication last week that the police would not take things lying down.