Last week, the news of Amritpal Singh, a Khalistani supporter who has evaded Punjab cops after an exhilarating chase, dominated a large chunk of TV screen time. While writing this column, the search for Amritpal is still ongoing. Amritpal is a mirror image of slain terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, demanding the establishment of Khalistan without any reservations. His case brought back memories of the early 1990s when a group of Khalistani militants tried to establish a base in Bombay, but the timely action of the Bombay Police sabotaged their plans and eliminated them. However, before their demise, they left an indelible mark on the city by committing a series of brutal murders. This led to the establishment of Bombay's first Anti-Terrorist Squad to counter the Khalistani militants.
IPS officer Aftab Ahmed Khan gained fame for killing Maya Dolas, a gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s henchman, in a plush area of Andheri’s Lokhandwala Complex during an encounter. It inspired a movie titled “Shootout At Lokhandwala,” where Sanjay Dutt played Khan's character. In addition to this incident related to Mumbai's underworld, Khan led a campaign against Khalistani terrorists in the city. When Khan took charge as the Additional Commissioner of Police (North Region), he was jolted by a series of murders. The investigations revealed that Khalistani militants had fled Punjab due to the police's aggressive campaign and were now attempting to establish a base in Mumbai. The murders were "honour killings," and extortion was also a motive behind them.
A substantial number of Sikhs reside in Mumbai and its environs, such as Thane and Navi Mumbai. Many of them are affluent and engaged in the transportation business. The militants singled out such businessmen, conducted thorough research on their family members and daily routines, and used the information to threaten them. They demanded funds for their secessionist "cause" and threatened to wipe out their families if the businessmen did not comply. They also issued a diktat prohibiting Sikh girls from marrying outside the community. Most of the militants belonged to groups like Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and Bhindranwale Liberation Force (BLF).
A Sikh couple was shot dead at their home because the woman had married a non-Sikh man. In another case, a Sikh woman, her husband, and their three children were abducted and crushed under a truck on the outskirts of Bombay because she married outside the community. A Sikh transporter was gunned down for not responding to the militants' extortion demands.
Apart from these killings, an incident in Ghatkopar, one of the northern suburbs, sent shock waves throughout the city. In 1991, a group of armed Sikh militants traveling in an open jeep skipped a busy traffic signal, prompting vigilant traffic cops to pursue them. However, the militants reversed their vehicle and fired on the cops, killing sub-inspector Lakhmer Singh and two other policemen. The shots were fired from Kalashnikovs.
As such incidents increased, Khan realized that the regular police station machinery would not be able to combat the terrorist and a specialized force is required. He came up with a brainwave to create a specialized force, which was promptly given the nod by the then police commissioner. Khan cherry-picked strapping policemen from various stations, aged between 25 and 40, and established Bombay's first Anti-Terrorism Squad. In no time, the squad was operational and made its first breakthrough. Following a grilling interrogation, the head of the Khalistan Commando Force, Baldev Singh Saini, and his henchmen were slain during a joint mission with the Gujarat police in Baroda. Baldev was attempting to flee after throwing grenades at the surrounded police team when he was shot. He had been implicated in multiple murders in Bombay. Additionally, seven other militants were detained.
While one module of the Khalistani militants had been eradicated, another reignited their spree of terror and extortion following a brief hiatus. A Sikh businessman from Navi Mumbai contacted Khan, stating that he had received a ransom call from the Khalistani militants demanding 50 lakh rupees. The militants threatened to harm his family if the demand was not met within a week. Khan advised the businessman to claim he was willing to pay, and on their instructions, the businessman delivered the first installment of 25 lakhs beneath a hillock at Khindipada in Bhandup.
When the militants arrived to collect the money, a confrontation with the ATS commandos, who had been hiding in the bushes, ensued. Khan's bodyguard, Bhaskar Sonje, was struck on the head by a bullet fired from an AK-47 rifle and was killed instantly. However, the commandos managed to eliminate five militants who were holed up in a shanty.
In 1992, the ATS added another feather to its cap by apprehending the infamous terrorist Lalsingh outside the Dadar railway station immediately after he disembarked from the train from Amritsar. Lalsingh, a member of Babbar Khalsa, was accused of bombing Air India's Kanishka aircraft, resulting in the deaths of 329 individuals. He was also charged with shooting former Haryana chief minister Bhajanlal during his visit to Canada.
In the same year, the Bombay Police preempted an daring conspiracy by the Khalistani militants. The militants planned to abduct Vishala Rajeshwar Rao, the granddaughter of PM Narasimha Rao. She was a medical student at Pune's Bhartiya Vidyapeeth. The militants intended to kidnap her and secure the release of the notorious terrorist Harjinder Singh Zinda from jail. Zinda had been accused of assassinating former Indian army chief Arunkumar Vaidya and was sentenced to death. Before the militants could execute the abduction of Rao, they were caught by the Bombay police while travelling in a stolen Maruti 800 car in Dahisar.
It was also reported that Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s life was under threat by Khalistani militants. After the killing of Indira Gandhi in 1984, when anti-Sikh pogrom was happening in the north India, Thackeray assured that Sikhs in Mumbai were safe and nobody would touch them. However, in 1988, during a press conference at Ritz Hotel, Thackeray alleged that the Sikhs of Bombay were funding the Khalistani groups. With a threat of economic and social boycott, he asked them to go to Golden Temple and convince the high priests of the community to make a statement against Khalistan supporters. The leaders of the Sikh community in Bombay found the allegations bizarre and baseless. Thackeray’s public outbursts against Khalistan didn’t go down well with the militants and there were reports that conspiracies were being hatched to kill him.
(Bombayphile is published every Saturday where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and the present of Mumbai.)
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