Lakdawala still strikes fear

Mateen Hafeez / TNN / May 20, 2007, 02:05 IST

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While gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, 40, is untraceable, unidentified callers have been threatening film personalities in his name.

MUMBAI: While gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, 40, is untraceable, unidentified callers have been threatening film personalities in his name. Though no complaints have been filed with the police, several celebrities have approached the police for protection in the last one year.
Lakdawala, one of the most-wanted fugitives from Mumbai, studied at Bandra's St Stanislaus school and entered the crime world in 1993 after he killed one Haren Mehta, following an altercation at a cricket match.He was arrested, kept at Arthur Road jail and acquitted in 1995.
According to a police source, Lakdawala has been threatening film personalities and attempting to recruit young boys, but has not succeeded in forming a team of extortionists. "The problem is that no one comes forward to complain," the source said.
The extortionist has worked with all the top dons, including Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan. Police sources say that Lakdawala parted ways with Dawood after an argument with gangsters Abu Salem and Chhota Shakeel.

Soon after he left the Dawood gang, Lakdawala started terrorising Bollywood. In 2003, his men opened fire on director Lawrence D'Souza, who survived the attempt.
When he was jailed for the first time, he met Sunil Madgaonkar alias Matya who fled to Bangkok and later gave Lakdawala the supari (contract) to kill Farid Rajji, an alleged Shakeel aide. Rajji was fired upon in his office in Goli Mohallah at Pydhonie in October 1996. Rajji survived the attempt, and Lakdawala was arrested and sent to Nashik jail, from where he escaped to Malaysia in 1998. He then joined the Chhota Rajan gang. After Rajan was shot at by Shakeel men in Bangkok in 2000, Lakdawala formed his own gang.

In 2004, he was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ottawa, following a red corner notice against him. Lakdawala is involved in more than 20 cases of extortion, attempts to murder and rioting.
It is learnt that in November 2003, a man who introduced himself as Ejaz Lakdawala had called up a news channel in Mumbai and threatened to kill Akshay Kumar. In 2003, Lakdawala was shot at by unidentified men in Bangkok. He suffered serious injuries and was admitted to a hospital from where he escaped in June to South Africa.
Lakdawala uses Canadian and Malaysian SIM cards to make his extortion calls to celebrities and others, according to police officers.

About the Author

Mateen Hafeez

Mateen Hafeez, special correspondent at The Times of India in Mumbai, reports on terrorism, underworld, cybercrime and organized crime syndicates. He also writes about the jails in Maharashtra and focuses on human interest stories. He has covered the Ghatkopar bomb blast, Vile Parle bomb blast, Mulund train blast, train serial blasts in 2006, 26/11 terror attacks and Pune's German Bakery bomb blast. He has a special interest in Urdu fiction written by Ibn-e-Safi.

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