Where are you going, Bhopal?

Many consecutive cases of criminal connections with the calm and scenic city of Bhopal, makes one wonder, like the advertisement of Tata Sky, where Bhopal is headed. The police here may not be fully convinced that the state has become a favorite haunt of ISI-underworld combine, the intelligence officials are worried over tell-tale signs of their presence showing in various parts of the state every now and then.

Yesterday three accused of murder escaped from high court at Jabalpur. The three accused named Mukhtar Mallick, Muzaffar Hussain alias Munna Painter and Asif Mamu were declared guilty by the high court in a gang war, which took place in Bhopal district court on 10th July 1996. Mukhtar Mallick near Kamla Park of Bhopal shot at Munna Painter. During the hearing of this case, a fight broke out between the supporters of Munna Painter and Mukhtar Mallick. Salim Baba, Salim Bucha and Umar Ijhar were killed in the fight that ensued in presence of the judge in the district court of Bhopal. The Bhopal police arrested seventeen people in this case, but none of the parties brought any charges against each other. All the private witnesses also turned hostile. Moreover the Bhopal court declared all the accused "not guilty" in August 1999, in spite of the witnesses of police officials in-charge of the case. Munna Painter is resident of the Kamla Park area of Bhopal, and is known to be the gambling king of Bhopal. He is also involved in property broking activities. Mukhtar Mallick is basically from Goharganj of Raisen district. His main activities are Property broking, illegal mining and cutting of forest products. Both are supposed to be backed by highly placed politician.

Abu Salem, the notorious criminal had the passport of his friend Monica Bedi made from Bhopal using fake documents and name of Fauzia Usman. Now Monica Bedi facing criminal charges in a Bhopal court says that a man by the name of Shiraj, who she claimed was a former aide to Salem and well connected in the underworld, was responsible for the passport forgeries. Till date he "collects money for anti-national activities and terrorists", she said. This Shiraj, who has turned into the main witness from the government, has claimed that many attempts were made on his life by sharp shooters of Abu Salem.

Police in India wants Mohammad Iqbal Memon alias Iqbal Mirchi, in several cases, particularly the 1993 Mumbai blasts. The United Nations considers Iqbal Mirchi among the top 50 drug barons in the world and believes that he is a senior figure in the 'D' (Dawood Ibrahim) Company. Mirchi’s wife Hawa Bibi is from Bhopal. Mirchi got in touch with an English lady of Bhopal, who had inherited a bunglow in the Shyamla Hills area of Bhopal, which spread over 8,343 square feet, from her railway contractor husband. Iqbal took the old and ailing lady with him to Mumbai for treatment. He got this bunglow, known as “Angrezon Ki Haweli” in local parlance, transferred to the name of his wife. The bunglow came into focus in 1999 after the body of Anil Sharma, a sharpshooter working for another underworld don, Abu Salem, was found there. This Anil Sharma himself was a main accused of the Gulshan Kumar murder case. The Central Excise and Customs Department attached this property in 2001 under the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985 and The Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976. Earlier this month, this property was put to an open auction in the presence of a special team from Mumbai customs and excise department, at a declared reserve price of Rs 9.4 million. However, a Mumbai-based company bought for Rs 48.5 million, about five times the reserved price. It is being speculated that Iqbal Mirchi bought back his property, under a fake name.