The World of Vasant Dhoble

Copies of the Bombay Police Act,1951,the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act,1948,the Prevention of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act,and the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act,which he regularly refers to,also lie on the table.

The visitor gets up,thanks Dhoble,and walks away.

In Dhoble’s office on the ground floor of the Mumbai Police headquarters in south Mumbai’s bustling Crawford Market,the phone never stops ringing. He receives calls from informers through the day,tipping him off on “suspicious” places and establishments in the city. Dhoble says his informers range from college students to people who frequent these places.

‘Tough cop’ Dhoble,57,has been in the news over the past few weeks,having sparked outrage among netizens,eminent personalities and the youth with his raids on Mumbai’s popular nightspots.

Images of the hockey stick wielding ACP shoving a manager out of a famous eatery during a raid have been played out on television screens repeatedly. While Dhoble has been criticised for his views on the “immoral activities” that take place in such establishments and for relying on “archaic laws” for his raids,his crackdown has found support from a large section of Mumbai’s middle class.

Backed by state home minister R R Patil,and with Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik speaking out openly in his defence,Dhoble says criticism does not affect him.

“Why should I be concerned about criticism? The only thing I am concerned about is what the law says. If I cross my boundaries in terms of breaking the law,I will be concerned about that. If the honourable courts feel that I have done something wrong,or if my superiors feel that I have erred,I will be concerned about that,not about what others think about me,” says Dhoble.

“We have a job to do. When we receive information from our informants,we have to take it seriously. If we find that establishments are breaking the law,we will have to take action against such errant establishments. I know people don’t think good about me. This is a free country. I cannot change people’s perception. They are free to think what they want. I am not concerned about public perception,I am concerned with my work. That is all that matters to me,” he says.

Dhoble,however,goes through every news article that’s written on him carefully. “The media has every right to write what they want. I do not bother about good publicity or bad publicity. If I get many positive reports about me,I will not be given added perks. My job is important,not what the media thinks about me. I am here to work. My superiors will decide if I am doing my job or not,” says Dhoble.

On an earlier occasion,on returning to his office after a favourable court order,Dhoble had said that he did not understand what the word ‘pub’ meant. “I am not ridiculing anyone or making fun of anything. I really want to know what it means,” he had said. When someone told him what it meant,Dhoble remarked to nobody in particular,“Then why do you call it a pub? Tell me,what is a pub?”

Apart from news reports on him,Dhoble also follows horoscopes that appear in newspapers. He reads them aloud and then re-reads them,just in case he has missed out on something. But he refuses to say whether he believes in them. “How does my personal life affect anyone? I am entitled to my beliefs. I do not discuss my personal life or my beliefs,” he says,breaking into a smile.

Having been accused of playing spoilsport with Mumbai’s nightlife,Dhoble,officers say,unwinds by cruising on his personal Royal Enfield Bullet. He is reportedly a vegetarian and a teetotaler. Ask him about his famous hockey stick and he says with a smile,“I use it only in the evenings when I go for a stroll. I am a player.”

Dhoble,who belongs to Pune,lives with his family in Mumbai’s western suburb of Borivali. Every day Dhoble leaves home at 8.30 a.m.,taking an hour to reach his office in his official Mahindra Scorpio. He first finishes all his routine paperwork,while juggling calls from various informers and complainants,and meeting visitors in his office. Among the papers strewn across his desk are files with dates,numbers and instructions written on post-its.

“These are applications from members of the public complaining about illegal activities in their area. They want us to act on them.” He says he has received 500 such applications over the last year. Not all of them are taken seriously though,the ACP explains. Some people,he says,also write in,complaining about their neighbours’ dogs. “They send anything that bothers them. They are not concerned about whether it falls under our jurisdiction or not. They send such applications to anyone who they feel can enforce action and they seem to send it to this department,” he says.

After meeting visitors,Dhoble usually leaves office by 5 p.m.,heading out either to verify tip-offs he has received or sending other officers from the SSB to do a recce of the location where a raid will be conducted at night. A few nights ago,the SSB received information of illicit activities in a bar in eastern Mumbai’s Chembur area. Teams were formed and sent to the spot. A go-ahead for a raid was given. However,at the last minute,the police cancelled the raid. SSB sources say that they were being followed by several cars.

“It is a known fact that our cars are followed. Information on our movement is relayed to various bars in the city. When our car turns in a particular direction,all bars in the vicinity are shut within minutes. Everything seems normal. There are many times when raids have been called off because the information was leaked,” claims an SSB officer.

Dhoble,in fact,says he does not even inform his driver of his final destination.

Courting controversy

Though Dhoble and his team have been raiding bars,restaurants and clubs for the past year,it’s only in recent months that he has attracted so much attention. On April 15,when Dhoble and his team raided the popular Amar Juice Centre in Vile Parle,CCTV cameras caught Dhoble wielding a hockey stick and allegedly threatening the manager of the establishment to close the place while horrified patrons watched on. The establishment approached the Maharashtra government alleging that Dhoble had threatened them and also submitted the CCTV footage to back their claims. The manager of a hookah parlour in Bandra has also moved court alleging that Dhoble slapped him during a raid.

In the last few months,Dhoble has raided several establishments for allegedly flouting rules under the Bombay Police Act,1951,the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act,1948,the Prevention of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act and the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act. The SSB has picked up families from restaurants and groups from bars and pubs.

On June 8,Dhoble raided Cafe Zoe in Lower Parel,claiming that the establishment was playing loud music without a proper licence and that the place was overcrowded,citing a rule of the Bombay Police Act which states that only 166 patrons can be accommodated in a 1,000-sq-ft area.

On June 5,Dhoble also courted controversy after the SSB raided Masala Curry,a restaurant in Andheri (West) and detained 11 women on suspicion of being involved in a prostitution racket.

Dhoble is not new to controversy. In his 32 years in the police,many of them spent in important postings in Mumbai,he has got into a few scraps. While posted as an assistant police inspector (API) at D N Nagar police station in March 1983,he was accused of killing one Abdul Gaffar Khan in custody,beating him repeatedly with a hockey stick.

After Khan’s wife filed a criminal writ petition against Dhoble,a sessions court on February 18,1994,sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a cash penalty of Rs 1 lakh. Dhoble was dismissed from police service on April 28,1994,but was reinstated on March 19,1996. Dhoble approached the Bombay High Court in appeal against the verdict,and the High Court struck down his imprisonment on December 26,1996.

Khan’s wife then filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court. On September 8,2003,the apex court gave him a clean chit. It,however,ordered the Mumbai Police Commissioner to take action against the officers responsible for Khan’s death. A departmental inquiry is still pending.

Dhoble’s brush with fame came in 1987 when he arrested Sharad Shetty,a top lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim. Shetty fled to Dubai in 1990 after he was released on bail.

In 1989,the Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau arrested Dhoble in a bribery case while he was posted in Pune. He was suspended on June 8,1989,but resumed duty on March 27,1991.

During his stint as an assistant police inspector in the Crime Branch’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU),Dhoble was accused of the fake encounter killing of peanut vendor Abu Sayama alias Javed Fawda,who was gunned down as a member of the Abu Salem gang in south Mumbai’s Ballad Pier area on August 26,1997. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court.

Dhoble also spearheaded a crackdown on illegal hawkers when he was a police inspector at the Byculla police station. In June 2008,he was let off with a warning after 12 dossiers on the Dawood Ibrahim gang went missing from under his watch when he was an inspector in the Crime Intelligence Unit.

Dhoble worked in various branches of the Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch before being posted with the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha security.

Last year,a few months after Arup Patnaik took over as Mumbai police chief,he roped in Dhoble to head the SSB. Patnaik now stand firmly behind him,vouching for his “impeccable integrity”.

“Dhoble has fallen into trouble because he is daring and fearless. He is not an amenable or pliable officer,and in the past,other officers have ganged up against him to land him in trouble,” he says.

—Inputs by SMITA NAIR