D-Company very much on its own

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Officers of the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) investigating the Vijay Vasant Kedari gang said it was never outsourced a single job by the Dawood Ibrahim-Chhota Shakeel gang. “D-Company relies on its own men and does not trust others. It uses local goons whenever it has to execute an operation,” said an officer.

The other gangs have had to rely on Kedari’s men for shootings and extortions because most of their own members have been killed in encounters or inter-gang fights. “While they have lost their own shooters, finding

new recruits is not easy,” the officer said. “One reason that D-Company has felt no need for Kedari is that it hardly kills people these days. Its focus has changed to film piracy, the gutka business and drug peddling. For these activities, its own network is sufficient. “The other reason is that many D-Company members have been deported from foreign countries and so are back in Mumbai. In the last six or seven years, around two dozen D-Company men were sent back to

Mumbai. The gang has reorganized itself, though visibly its members are not doing anything.”

The officer said that DCompany members are not on good terms with south Indian gangsters. “The gang’s Chhota Shakeel faction is handling its Mumbai operations. Perhaps it’s cheap and easy for them to manage matters on their own.”


The Times of India, April 18, 2011