He falsified his passport, changed his name to Akshay Pritamdas Bhatia and ran a cloth business in Nepal, but Ejaz Lakdawala, a former Dawood Ibrahim aide who joined his arch rival Chhota Rajan’s gang and later ran his own underworld outfit, was finally arrested from Patna late on Wednesday night by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of Mumbai Police following a 22-year manhunt.
The gangster, who has been on Maharashtra Police’s ‘Most Wanted’ list since 1998 when he escaped from Nashik jail, was brought to Mumbai and produced before a local court on Thursday which remanded him into police custody until January 21. Lakdawala is wanted in 27 cases of murder and attempt to murder and in 80 cases of extortion.
An AEC officer, who did not want to be named for this story, told HT, “We have been planning Lakdawala’s arrest since 2017, but we got credible information about him after arresting his cousin Sameer Lakdawala in February 2019.”
In April 2019, Mumbai Police had arrested Lakdawala’s elder brother Yusuf from Mira Road in suburban Mumbai for allegedly extorting ₹50 lakh from a Mumbai-based developer at the alleged behest of Ejaz.
Yusuf was earlier arrested in 2011 along with his associated Amjad Contractor in an Arms Act case for the attempted murder of a businessman. Ejaz, too, had been booked in the case.
{{/usCountry}}Yusuf was earlier arrested in 2011 along with his associated Amjad Contractor in an Arms Act case for the attempted murder of a businessman. Ejaz, too, had been booked in the case.
{{/usCountry}}Mumbai Police officers told HT on Thursday that it was when they arrested Ejaz’s daughter Sonia on December 28 that they got actionable clues about Ejaz’s location. Sonia was arrested from Mumbai airport while allegedly trying to flee to Nepal under a false name, Sonia Shaikh.
Mumbai Police said Sonia had threatened a city real estate developer, but that builder registered an FIR against her and Ejaz. Sonia’s interrogation led the crime branch to believe that Ejaz was operating out of Nepal under an assumed name of Akshay Pritamdas Bhatia, and would travel to various countries to expand his hosiery business.
In the first week of January this year, a team of AEC officers, including police inspectors Ajay Sawant, Sachin Kadam and Arvind Pawar, and assistant police inspector Raju Surve launched an operation to lure Lakdawala out of Nepal to India with his daughter as bait. Ejaz fell into the trap and was arrested from Patna’s Mithapur bus stand on Wednesday night.
Lakdawala, according to Bihar Police sources, entered the state two days earlier, and had headed straight to the Indo-Nepal border. However, he came to Patna on Wednesday and was searching for accommodation in the city’s Jakkanpur area. Bihar Police officers said that they and the Mumbai Police team teamed up for stakeout for over two days. Bihar’s Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Amit Kumar said, “Sonia told the Mumbai police that she demanded ₹7 crore from a builder in Mumbai on Ejaz’s instructions. During her interrogation, she told the crime branch that Ejaz had fled to Bihar.”
Lakdawala, according to Bihar Police sources, had reached the state two days ago and allegedly headed to the Indo-Nepal border. However, he came to Patna on Wednesday and was looking for an accommodation in Jakkanpur area of the state capital.
According to a police officer privy to Sonia’s interrogation details, told HT that she provided three different mobile numbers of Ejaz to the police. “Mumbai Police put the numbers on surveillance. His first location showed him near the Bihar-Nepal border, but he kept changing his cell phones, and this proved to be a challenge.” However, police officers confirmed his location with the help of his second phone number and found him at Mithapur bus stand where they finally arrested him. Lakkdawala, 49, is a former student of St Stanislaus High School in Bandra, a suburb in western Mumbai. In 1993, he allegedly killed Haren Mehta after an altercation at a cricket match, for which he was jailed but acquitted in 1995. During his prison term, Lakdawala met with Chhota Rajan associate Sunil Madgaonkar alias Matya, who introduced him to the Mumbai underworld.