"My Conversations With Dawood Ibrahim" continues...

On court’s warrants the Minister, the MP and the
Regional Manager were arrested and sent to Tihar Jail in Delhi.

On conclusion of the trial all eight accused were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. They went in appeal to the Supreme Court where the sentence of Subhash Singh Thakur and Bhai Thakur was enhanced to ten years. Enhancement of sentence of an appellant by the Apex Court, and, that too, its increase by 100%, was a rarity in the history of the Indian judiciary. The sentence against Shyam Kishore Garikapatty, Chandrakant Patil and Paresh Desai remained unchanged; while the Power Minister, the Member of Parliament and the Regional
Manager of East-West Airlines were acquitted. The Supreme Court acquitted them as it felt they did not have the knowledge that they were giving shelter or were dealing with terrorists.

Ahmed Mansoor also provided information on Manish Lala’s proximity with D and his meteoric
rise in D company. We succeeded in identifying several of Manish Lala’s properties in Bombay,
which were subsequently raided. The Bombay Police was taken by surprise at the interest the
CBI was taking in Manish Lala. They had hitherto not pursued him with the same vigour other
members of Dawood’s gang had been chased. He was an absconding accused in the J.J. Hospital Shootout Case of Sept. 12, 1992, a most sensational incident of gang-warfare that had sent shockwaves in the commercial capital of India. Charges against Lala were of sheltering Subhash Thakur and Shyam Kishore Garikapatty after the JJ Hospital Shootout and providing them other logistical support.
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A word here on JJ Hospital Shootout case to give an idea to the readers of the ferocity of internecine gang warfare in the Bombay of late 80s and 90s: A bitter gang rivalry between D
and another mobster Arun Gawli had led to several killings on both sides. The victim of one such killing was Ismail Parkar, D’s brother-in-law who was shot dead on July 26, 1992 outside a hotel owned by him in Nagpada area of Bombay.

To be continued...