Mumbai's Dirty Harrys join 7/11 probe

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7/11, Malegaon planned by same men

Two men accused in the 7/11 blasts case were on Tuesday re-arrested for their alleged role in the Malegaon blasts.

• Chink in Mumbai's local train armour
• Govt to set up special court for 7/11
• Bangalore feels the pinch of the power crisis
• JD(S) committee meet to decide on trust vote: Gowda

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• 7/11, Malegaon planned by same men
• Chink in Mumbai's local train armour
• Govt to set up special court for 7/11
• Bangalore feels the pinch of the power crisis
• JD(S) committee meet to decide on trust vote: Gowda

Keywords: Encounter Specialists, Trains

Mumbai: Time magazine called them the "Dirty Harrys of Mumbai".

They have also inspired Bollywood movies, thanks to their action- packed real life scripts that extolled the thrills and dangers of these once fearsome Mumbai Police gunfight specialists.

The fabled and, someTimes notorious, sharpshooters of Mumbai Police - known in local parlance by their euphemism 'encounter specialists' - are back in the news.

Stung by the horrific July 11 bomb attacks, the police top brass have brought back some of the encounter specialists - so called because they kill wanted gangsters in cold-blood by staging encounters to give the impression that it was a shootout - to add the much needed teeth to its intelligence gathering machinery.

Mumbai Police Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), entrusted with the overall responsibility to probe the July 11 terror attacks on India's financial and entertainment capital that killed 200 people and wounded 800, is drawing heavily on the experience and expertise of the gunfight specialists and officers who are no longer in service.

They include suspended police officers like Sachin Vaze and Daya Nayak, a sub-inspector who gained notoriety as an 'encounter specialist' and was alleged to have underworld connections, Vinod Bhatt, then assistant commissioner of police (ACP) who was part of the team that cracked the 1993 serial blasts case, Naval Bajaj, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), and other 'encounter' specialists such as inspector Vijay Salaskar and Pradeep Sharma.

These former 'glamour boys' of Mumbai Police's then crack team of the crime branch have to their individual credit over 80 'encounters' apiece.

They once enjoyed unlimited power, but they fell out of favour, mostly because of their own doing.

These field officers who were responsible for bringing the gang war under control have been sidelined or are under suspension.

Mangalore-born Nayak began life, cleaning tables at nine years of age at restaurants here before joining the city police force.

Nayak, who hit the headlines in the late 90s as a crack police gunfight expert, after killing 83 gangsters in 'encounters', found himself along with mentor Pradeep Sharma arrested and then subsequently suspended six months ago, accused of being in cahoots with the same underworld he has pledged to annihilate.

Nayak who gunned down gangsters from the Chhota Shakeel and Chhota Rajan gangs even received threats from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for his persistent attack on the underworld.