Gangster Asif Amdawadi arrested by DCB in Surat

SURAT, Sept 9: Dreaded criminal and Chhota Rajan gangster Asif Amdawadi, who was wanted by the police in a number of cases, including tha...

SURAT, Sept 9: Dreaded criminal and Chhota Rajan gangster Asif Amdawadi, who was wanted by the police in a number of cases, including that of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and threatening to kill, was arrested during the early hours of Thursday along with an accomplice by the city Detection of Crime Branch and the Mahidharpura police.

Amdawadi, who jumped parole in March this year, and Mumbai resident Mohammed Umarkhan Abdul Gafur Chhipa were picked up as soon as they disembarked from coach no. 5 of the Saurashtra Express at 2.05 am. The arrests followed a tip-off.

Apart from being involved in the murder of Ghulam Mohammed Bombaywala in Mumbai, Asif Amdawadi alias AA was directly in touch with Malaysia-based don Chhota Rajan and worked closely with his associates in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Surat. He reportedly took suparis for a number of persons of the city since he jumped parole.

Not much is known of Chhipa, his companion, though the DCB stated that he was from Vadala in Mumbai. He was arrested in 1991 by the city police in a loot case and sentenced to seven years jail.

Talking to the press on Thursday evening, special branch ACP M B Pethani said that after jumping parole on March 3, 1999, AA took a supari of Rs 50 lakh from builder and former deputy mayor Hira Gangani to get a plot of land vacated from the possession of Arif Choksi.

He also confessed to accepting a supari of Rs 1 lakh from Ashok Waghani and Rs 2 lakh from Parvez Cementwala to get a plot at Ambawadi vacated, Rs 1 lakh from Ilyas Navsariwala and Rs 7 lakh from Sikander Kerosenewala to extort money from Siddhi Cements.

AA told the DCB today during interrogation that immediately after jumping parole, he went to Bareja village near Ahmedabad. He then went to Kamalpur village in UP, and from there to Kathmandu.

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He spent another fortnight at Deerganj near Kathmandu before coming to India, where he stayed in the Delhi residence of Chhota Rajan-aide Dharmendra Punjabi. Amdawadi also lived in Benaras and Gorakhpur before fleeing back to Nepal. For the past one month, he had been staying at Mumbai and came to Ahmedabad last week.

In the meantime, he visited Surat on at least 25 occasions, AA told the police, and added that while he worked closely with Chhota Rajan aides O P Singh and Rohit Verma, he also talked often to Chhota Rajan on his cellphone.

Before coming to the city last night, AA is reported to have told the informer who gave the message to the police, that he was planning to finish off DCB PI Kaneriya who was trying to nab him.

A resident of Dani Apartments in the Bhagatalav area, AA was pushed into big-time crime after the murder of Ghulam Bombaywala in Rander on July 27, 1996. AA, along with Irfan Oliya and Shoaib Bharuchi, had killed Bombaywala with swords in a daylight murder. All three were nabbed within a fortnight, and the case came up for hearing in February this year. AA however sought a 21-day parole, saying that his mother was not well, and was since involved in criminal activity in Surat.