30 years after jumping bail, Arun Gawli gang member held from Mumbai slum

The Malad police traced him to Andheri where he was living after changing his identity.

More than 30 years after Shirish Bhupatlal Shah, 62, a member of gangster Arun Gawli’s gang, disappeared after coming out on bail in a 1988 attempt-to-murder case, the Malad police have recently traced him to a slum in Andheri where he was living after changing his identity.

The arrested accused and his aide barged into a hospital on Marve Road in Malad (West) and attacked a man and his wife in 1988. (Representational photo)

On January 26, 1988, about 7am, Shah and his aide Chandrashekhar Yadav, barged into a hospital on Marve Road in Malad (West) and attacked Abubhai Khan and his wife, Habida Begum Khan.

Khan and Shah used to stay in Navjadpada, Malad (East) and had fought in the past. Khan, who was admitted in the hospital for some illness, was stabbed several times and Habida who came to his rescue was also stabbed by Shah and his aide.

Shah was arrested on September 10 in the same year. After one-and-half months, on October 25 , he was granted bail by the sessions court. The Malad police did not have any current photograph of Shah and had tapped their informers to get leads on him. A police team led by inspector Gulzarilal Fadtare got in touch with Khan who gave them some leads. They also tapped their old informers and learnt that Shah was living under an alias “Bachcha” in a slum pocket in Andheri (east).