TIME TO GO:A Mumbai Police official arrested Arun Gawli in his den at Dagdi Chawl, Mumbai, while an interview was in progress on Wednesday. MUMBAI, Aug 20: Shaken to its foundation by the string of mafia killings that almost reached Mantralaya's doorstep yesterday, the State Government today effected the biggest ever shake-up of top officers to come to grips with the deteriorating law and order situation in Mumbai.Simultaneously, in an assertive action, an army of policemen descended on underworld don Arun Gawli's Dagdi Chawl in the afternoon and arrested him for Tuesday's murder of builder Natwarlal Desai. The raid also saw three of his men dead.The biggest casualty of the shake-up was Mumbai Police Commissioner Subhash Malhotra whose continuance in the post had become a point of friction between Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and his deputy Gopinath Munde. Joshi had resolutely rejected Munde's written recommendation to shift Malhotra.But he changed tack on Wednesday and shunted Malhotra to the Police Housing and Welfare Corporation. Malhotra, who saw at least six major gangland strikes in his short span of about ten months, was replaced by R H Mendonca, Additional Director General (Law and Order). Malhotra was presiding over a high-level meeting of officers to review the situation in Mumbai when Joshi announced his transfer to reporters at Mantralaya.In all, 20 officers of the rank of Inspector General of Police and Deputy Inspector General of Police were transferred, the first time so many top officers have been shunted around in one shot (full report in Newsline).Desai's killing had highlighted the complete failure of the law and order machinery: the police reached the spot in the heart of Nariman Point 45 minutes late and an hour after the incident, while Malhotra was patting his back over a seizure of antiques, about 100 m away Joshi was saying all was well with Mumbai.The tremors of that failure today also shook the fortress of Gawli, Mumbai's only resident don. Even though Joint Commissioner R S Sharma had given hint of the impending action yesterday when he said Gawli had got Desai eliminated, the arrest, Gawli's third since March, was still sudden.The police hurriedly invoked the Maharashtra State Prevention of Slumlords and Dangerous Persons Act to arrest him. MSPSDPA is the State equivalent of National Security Act, that allows prolonged custody (full report in Newsline).With Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta having sounded the warning by saying the State was incapable of meeting the challenge of the mafia, the focus will now be on the new man in the hot seat: Commissioner Mendonca, who is believed to have come in with a specific brief to stamp out the mafia.
