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| Abdul Latif's first claim to big time was when he got entangled with the turf war in Mumbai underworld. |
March 21, 2016, NewsCrunch
In his forthcoming movie Raees, Shahrukh Khan plays a bootlegger, who is reportedly based on a real life goon of Gujarat, Abdul Latif.
Former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar notes the connection between SRK’s Raees Khan and Abdul Latif in his book Dial D for Don (Penguin, 2015). He also gives a brief sketch of Abdul Latif ’s notoriety and how he was caught by the police.
Born in a poor Muslim family in Ahmedabed, Abdul Latif took to bootlegging and became hugely successful. He was able to build a huge criminal network across states.
He was tough, ruthless and had a penchant for violence, calculated to intimidate rivals and even the police.
Abdul Latif's first claim to big time was when he got entangled with the turf war in Mumbai underworld. He gave refuge to a few members of the Pathan gang, who had a running feud with Dawood Ibrahim.
Dawood started gunning for the hot headed Abdul Latif, who returned the favour by making an attempt on his life, when he was briefly imprisoned in Ahmedabad.
But Dawood made peace with Abdul Latif in Dubai and both became good friends. Under Dawood's guidance, Abdul Latif diversified into gold smuggling.
The incident which made him a household name in Gujarat occurred in 1982. Abdul Latif had sent a few sharpshooters to bump off a rival bootlegger Hansraj Trivedi at his gambling den near Radhika Gymkhana in Ahmedabad. The shooters found Trivedi playing cards with eight friends, but failed to identify him.
Abdul Latif ordered them to shoot all nine and they did. The mind-numbing massacre, which saw AK-47 being used for the first time in Gujarat, made Abdul Latif a marked man.
He fled to Karachi and took refuge there with Dawood's help. Indian intelligence had noted him exchanging congratulatory messages with Dawood after Mumbai blasts.
Perhaps bored with life in Karchi, Abdul Latif returned to India and was caught in Delhi by a combined operation of CBI, Delhi and Gujarat police units, while trying to extort from a businessman.
In 1997, Abdul Latif was shot dead by Gujarat police when he allegedly tried to escape during a visit to the court.