MUMBAI // A video shows a police officer rubbing shoulders with a group of gangsters. Swilling alcoholic beverages, the men sing and dance to the tune of thumping Bollywood beats.
The officer in this mobile phone footage, filmed anonymously at a Christmas Eve party in a posh club in a Mumbai suburb, and broadcast last week across Indian news channels, is Prakash Wani, the assistant commissioner of police. He is seen carousing with DK Rao, an alleged henchman of Chhota Rajan, a mafia don.
Four other policemen, not seen in the video, were reportedly also present at the club.
They claim the video is doctored, but other evidence - photographs and statements of people present at the party - imply a connection between Mumbai police and underworld dons.
The federal government ordered the suspension of the five policemen, but the leaked video has intensified scrutiny over clandestine links between law enforcers and lawbreakers in the city.
"There has always been an unholy nexus between gangsters and cops - otherwise gangsters would never have flourished," said YP Singh, the former joint commissioner of Mumbai police. "In this case, a senior police officer is seen dancing with a dreaded gangster in a very intense friendship and camaraderie, instead of apprehending him. There can be nothing more reprehensible for the police force."
This controversy has embarrassed Mumbai police, already facing criticism for its poor handling of the 2008 terrorist assault on the city. The government's anti-corruption bureau is conducting an investigation into the purchase of 110 faulty bulletproof jackets in 2002.
A number of policemen are believed to have died during the Mumbai attacks because of faulty bullet proof vests. The most prominent among them was Hemant Karkare, the chief of Mumbai's antiterrorist squad, who received three bullet injuries on his chest, which raised questions about the efficacy of the bullet proof vest he wore.
In the 1990s, when the underworld was most active in Mumbai, the federal government set up an "encounter squad", an unofficial group in the police force responsible for the elimination of criminal gangs. The squad soon came to be identified by "encounters", a euphemism for a situation in which a gangster is cornered and shot dead by the police. Its encounters with criminals were instrumental in curbing the activities of the organisations of notorious gangsters such as Ibrahim, Rajan, Ashwin Naik and Ejaz Lakdala.
Officers, who shot to fame with their kills, inspiring the plots of a number of Bollywood films, were accused of being in cahoots with the criminals they were charged with eliminating.
Daya Nayak, an encounter specialist in the Mumbai police known for killing more than 84 suspected members of the underworld, is currently under suspension for alleged links with the "D-company" gang operated by Mr Ibrahim, who is thought to be hiding in Karachi. In January 2006, India's anti-corruption bureau raided his home and booked him for having assets grossly disproportionate to his income. He has yet to face trial.
Among Mumbai police personnel, Pradeep Sharma has the highest number of encounters to his credit - a total of 112, according to the police department. At the peak of his career, he reportedly once told an international news agency: "Encounters are an addiction for me. I feel bored on Sundays." But he was dismissed in 2008 after being suspected of amassing three billion rupees (Dh241.2 million) in illegal wealth because of his links with Mr Rajan and Mr Ibrahim. He was reinstated in May last year after no evidence was found.
While the encounter killings of the 1990s were known to have severely crippled the Mumbai underworld, a spate of recent criminal activities indicates the underworld is resurfacing in the city after years of dormancy.
One of the most active gangs is that of Chhota Shakeel, a notorious don. Recently, four of his alleged hitmen were arrested as they set out to kill two lawyers representing Mr Shakeel's business rivals.
In May last year, it was reported that Bharat Nepali, one of Mr Shakeel's most trusted lieutenants, split with him to form his own gang, which has been recruiting hitmen from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to the police.
K Rao, the gangster at the centre of the latest video controversy, is said to be one of the main recruiters of the Rajan gang. The Christmas Eve party, law enforcement investigators said, was thrown for a similar purpose of recruitment of hitmen.
"Rao's role till today is centred around recruiting young blood to carry out Rajan's activities," an anonymous investigator told The Indian Express, a national daily. "The party may have been for networking purposes."
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
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Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
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The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
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Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
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Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
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