Who was Karim Lala whom, according to Sanjay Raut, Indira Gandhi used to meet?

Who was Karim Lala whom, according to Sanjay Raut, Indira Gandhi used to meet? Karim Lala, the head of Mumbai's underworld don, Pathan Gang, is again in the news. On Wednesday, senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut claimed that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used to visit old Don Karim Lala in Mumbai. This statement of Raut has created a stir in politics from Maharashtra to Delhi.

It is said that Karim Lala once beaten D Company leader Dawood Ibrahim with kick and bribes. He was the mastermind of criminals in Mumbai before Don Haji Mastan. Karim Lala's real name was Abdul Karim Sher Khan.

Mumbai arrived from Afghanistan in search of work

Karim Lala was born in Afghanistan. He was Pashtun and came to India at the age of 21 in search of work. Arriving in Mumbai (then Bombay) from Peshawar in 1930, he started doing small business but he did not like it.

Karim Lala was homegrown and was very keen on earning more money. For this he ventured into the world of crime. First, he rented a house near Grant Road station in Mumbai and opened a gambling club called Social Club. On seeing this club, it made its presence felt in Mumbai.

His club used to have many famous Girami Seth from Mumbai to gamble. From where his identity was also started. Apart from gambling, he also tried to smuggle precious jewels, gold, diamonds at Mumbai Port. He earned a lot of money from this business till independence.

The battle for supremacy in Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Varadarajan

Those days in Mumbai, Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Varadarajan were engaged in establishing their supremacy. In view of the damage done to the bloodshed and business, the three got together and divided the work and the areas. All three started working peacefully in their respective areas.

For over two decades, he was the leader of the dreaded "Pathan Gang" that operated from impoverished and crime-infested Muslim ghettos of South Mumbai like Dongri, Nagpada, Bhendi Bazaar, and Mohammad Ali Road.

He came with his extended family from Kunar, Afghanistan to Mumbai in 1920s. His family settled in one of the most densely populated and impoverished Muslim ghetto of Bhendi Bazaar in south Mumbai. Starting as an ordinary worker in the Mumbai docks, he later joined a gang of ethnic Pathans who worked as illegal recovery agents for Marwari and Gujarati money lenders, landlords and businessmen.

Lala soon rose up the ranks to be the chief of the "Pathan Gang" that became notorious for contract killings, forced evictions from property, kidnapping and extortion. The gang operated several "carrom clubs" that were a facade for illegal moneylending, gambling and betting rackets.

From the seventies, Lala agreed to a pact with the other two ganglords, Haji Mastan and Varadarajan to divide Mumbai amongst themselves so that they could freely run their crime activities without any conflict between each other.

Due to failing health during the late seventies, Lala gradually transferred the leadership of the Pathan gang to his nephew, Samad Khan and then managed his hotel and transport business.

Lala frequently invited several personalities from Bollywood to his daawats (parties) and Eid celebrations. Many characters from Bollywood movies closely resemble Karim Lala and his mannerisms and accent (the role played by Pran in Zanzeer).

Lala also held a weekly "durbar" where people from different walks of life narrated their grievances to Lala and he helped them financially or to get justice using his gang's muscle power.

When Dawood Ibrahim was beaten by Karim Lala with kick and bribes

Sometime later two sons of Mumbai Police head constable Ibrahim Kaskar joined Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (Dawood Ibrahim) and Shabbir Ibrahim Kaskar's gang of Haji Mastan. Both started smuggling business in Karim Lala's area.

Angered by this, Karim Lal caught Dawood and beat him a lot. Dawood had somehow saved his life by running away from here. However, later once again Dawood started a business in the area of ​​Karim Lala. After which Dawood's brother Shabbir was killed by the Pathan Gang in 1981 to teach Dawood a hard lesson. Dawood then murdered Karim Lala's brother Rahim Khan in 1986.

Karim Lala died in Mumbai on 19 February 2002 at the age of 90.

Karim Lala and and his political clout

On 15/Jan/20, the Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed that Indira Gandhi met underworld don Karim Lala in Mumbai. The next day, the gangster's grandson has said that there are pictures of the former prime minister meeting Karim Lala at his office. Karim Lala's grandson, Salim Pathan has also claimed that Sharad Pawar and Bal Thackeray also used to come to meet the gangster.

Salim Pathan has shared Karim Lala's pictures with Indira Gandhi and other political leaders.

"They [underworld] used to decide who will be Mumbai's police commissioner and who will sit in Mantralaya [state secretariat]. When [underworld don] Haji Mastan came to Mantralaya, the entire secretariat would come down to see him. Indira Gandhi used to meet Karim Lala in Pydhonie," claimed Sanjay Raut.