""Ayeessa Kya? (Is it so?)" continues...

In 1983, Alamzeb was once returning by car to Ahmedabad from Surat with his associates Liyaqat Master and Iqbal Bhupat. They had a chance encounter near Baroda with Dawood and his aides, who too were travelling by car. One of Dawood’s aides fired at Alamzeb but he escaped unhurt.

Latif himself was later to have a few counted encounters with Dawood. Detained in the Sabarmati Central Jail, Ahmedabad under COFEPOSA (an anti-smuggling law), Dawood was being produced in a Baroda court. He had won over the armed police team headed by Sub-Inspector Bishnoi, which was tasked with escorting him from jail to court and back. The escort party allowed him, for a consideration, to visit a hotel off Narol Highway for relaxation and entertainment. One day Latif was tipped off about Dawood’s movement. He, with his team, followed a vehicle in which Dawood was travelling with his close associates and Police Sub Inspector Bishnoi. At Jamalpur, on the account of a traffic jam, Dawood’s car had to stop and so did Latif’s vehicle which was trailing it. Liyaqat Master, Latif’s hit-man, got off the vehicle, fired several shots at Dawood, quickly got back and fled from the spot with Latif. Dawood escaped unhurt but two of his associates were injured.

Thereafter, a bloody war ensued between gangs of the Pathans and Dawood Ibrahim, with Latif on the side of the Pathan gang of Amirzada and Alamzeb. In June, 1983, Dawood’s hit-man David Pardesi killed Amirzada in court premises in Bombay. David was to meet his nemesis in Ahmedabad some
years later at the hands of Latif’s shooter Sharif Khan.

Thus a petty gambler and bootlegger evolved into a full-fledged underworld don. He had several run-ins with rival gangs and the law. Meanwhile, his bootlegging business and his gang activities continued
to flourish. He built a Robin Hood type of image for himself in his community by helping the needy and the poor.

To be continued...