A Riot.


Ranjan Mahale was around 24 years of age & worked as a Co-ordinator in a manufacturing unit at Andheri in Mumbai. The year was 1974. Security of the firm too was handled by him. The manufacturing unit was at Veera Desai Road & it was a very sparsely populated area in those days. There was a very large slum pocket at the end of the road i.e after the last bus stop.

Here some local gang had developed, who would loot the workers coming for the 3rd shift & going home after the 2nd shift at night. The workers lodged their complaints regarding these incidents to Ranjan as he was the security I/C. The incidents were increasing & had become very frequent. Police presence was very negligible in the area. Two notorious characters namely one Mr. Sultan & one Mr. Usman were considered to be the leaders of this gang. They operated a matka cum gambling cum hooch den in the area next to the last bus stop. Definitely this open illegal operations must have been with the active connivance of the local police, hence no tangible actions were taken on complaints made against these goons.

Ranjan was fed up of these rising complaints & the brazenness of these goons. Ranjan was a well built individual having just been discharged from the Indian Air Force after the 1971 Indo Pak war. He took up this matter with one of his Directors Mr. Nayyar.
On this Mr. Nayyar said "are we wearing bangles, if they are such a trouble some lot, tackle them the way you think is right".

That was the only support Ranjan needed to energise himself into action. At that very moment he had decided, that he would wipe them out if any more incident of this type occurred again. One shift had around 250 workers, majority of them hailing from the Lalbaug area (Central Mumbai), & most of them young, hefty & hot headed. They had begun going in groups while leaving the factory after the 2nd shift or coming for the night shift. So only some guys got into trouble when they were lonely. The goons would then attack these lonely guys & loot them.

Then came the day Ranjan was waiting for. One afternoon a scrap dealer had purchased some scrap & had left the factory compound with the scrap & was heading towards the end of the lane leading to the main road. Here these goons lay in wait & pounced upon him & looted him of his cash & material. This guy came running back to the factory gate crying out aloud " Are salon ne loot liya" in hindi.



On this the Security Guard at the gate came & notified Ranjan of the incident. At the same time Ranjan heard some glass pane breaking. Some of them on seeing the scrap dealer come into the factory had dared to pelt stones at the factory office shattering the window glass panes of the 1st floor office.

At that impulsively Ranjan decided it was their D day & asked the guard to sound the emergency siren at the gate. On hearing the siren all the workers maybe 250 of them downed their tools, shut their machineries & surged towards the gate. Ranjan was already there.

Ranjan bellowed "Pick up what ever item you can, worth attacking & come along with me". Ranjan asked the guard to open the gate & led the mob towards the last bus stop. At this the workers shouted "Hoorah, we will screw them today". Each one itched to let out his pent up fury of so many days. Each one of them had a large tool in his hand maybe a large spanner, hammer, GI pipe or what ever metallic object he could lay his hands upon. In this manner the Vanar Sena, all of them half naked or in chaddi banyan, with only their undergarments on, surged forward, towards Sultan & Usman's den. The only person fully dressed was Ranjan with his shirt tucked into his trousers.
Ranjan gave out that combatants war cry 'Har har mahadeo" & the mob shouted back 'Har har mahadeo".

Ranjan was a hefty person with a beard adding to his tough personality. Ranjan was so angry that he let out the choicest of expletives against the goons. He had completely lost his logical mode to think rationally & only decimating them was on his minds no matter what ever the consequences.

The boys first attacked the cigarette / paan wallah at the end of the lane, who they felt was harboring these goons. In minutes the shop was completely destroyed & the guy writhing in pain with inflicted injuries. They would have practically killed him, at this moment Ranjan intervened & asked them to leave him & move ahead. The first person from the gang was the father of Sultan who came ahead with some guys trying to placate the mob. But that was of no use & somebody from the mob attacked him with a sword & he was practically half dead by the time Ranjan intervened & stopped it. He lay bleeding on the road, Ranjan was shocked at the thought that how this boy had managed to get a sword. By the time the mob had reached the den of this gang. Sultan too got caught by the mob but managed to escape the fury by wriggling out & fleeing as fast as he could, to vanish in minutes. Usman was not to be found anywhere. He had made good his escape on getting a hint of what had begun to happen. At this moment one of the boys said to Ranjan, 'Sir should I make a bonfire of this den".

Ranjan agreed & threw his matches towards him, he always carried a matchbox as he was a compulsive smoker. The boy lit a torch with it & went on burning the den from all ends. Soon the fire spread to the adjacent shanties in the area & it was a big bonfire with people coming out of their homes & screaming, trying to douse the fire. In this fire the den & shanties of Sultan & Usman were completely burnt down. At that moment sense prevailed & Ranjan decided enough was enough & shouted out to the boys to return back to the factory. The mob ran back to the factory & the factory gates were closed. Ranjan too returned & from the factory gate he could see a large fire raging in the slums.

In the meantime somebody had rung up the police & the fire brigade. Both arrived in the area at around the same time. The paan wallah & Sultan's father were by the time picked up & taken to the Cooper hospital. The Andheri police station in those days was only at Andheri East, Teli Gully. It was at quite some distance from Veera Desai Road. The slum dwellers narrated the whole episode to the police. The police van with some of the slum dwellers came to the factory & each & every person pointed out to Ranjan, saying that he was the one leading the mob. It was very easy to identify as he was the one only fully dressed in the whole mob. The police picked him up & took him to the police station. By the time the matter had reached the ears of Mr. Nayyar. On that day when Ranjan took up the matter with him, he had asked "Are we wearing bangles".

In a few minutes Mr. Nayyar was at the police station. The police insisted on making an FIR as it was a very serious incident. In reality it was not their grief for the slum dwellers that was showing up, but it was the loss of a hefty hafta they were getting from these goons. As the matka cum gambling cum liquor den was completely burnt, they had failed to protect their clients. The local police was furious at this loss.
Mr. Nayyar was a very influential person & had contacts with all higher ups. He was arguing with the police officer Mr. Pulaskar, that what was burnt was an illegal entity & the men who were beaten up, were all goondas & it was the seething rage of the local populace that had erupted due to the indifference showed by the police towards their complaints against these very goons. But Mr. Pulaskar was in no mood to listen & insisted on going ahead with an FIR saying that two men were seriously injured & were in a critical condition & many shanties had been burnt down.

Sitting in one corner Ranjan was listening quietly to all these arguments. Reflecting back he started feeling, the boy who had a sword in his hand was not a person from the company, but some outsider. But in the heat of the moment he had not been able realize that. Some other outside disgruntled elements had taken advantage of the situation. But now he could not speak about it as anyway he was the one who had led the mob that had done this tandav nritya.

Even the fellows who had attacked the paanwalla seemed to be unknown faces, now that he was reflecting back on the incident. But the tremendous rage within him had clouded his thinking. The boys who burnt down the den & destroyed it were definitely from the factory.

As the Police Officer was in no mood to relent, Mr. Nayyar got up & said "Ok I shall speak to your seniors ". He got up & came down to Ranjan & assured him that nothing would happen to him "I am going to the higher ups".

With this he walked out of the police station. Two staff members had accompanied Ranjan to the police station. They were left behind with him. By the time news had reached the ears of the Chairman cum Managing Director of the firm Shri Indra Prasad Dalmia. He rushed to the factory & inquired regarding the whole incident. The staff explained everything to him & argued that Ranjan had done the right thing.
Mr Daruwala, Chief Timekeeper argued showing the shattered glass panes to Sethji
" Those goons had not only looted the scrap merchant but had the temerity to pelt stones at our office windows" Sethji on hearing all these felt that Ranjan might be right in his action & decided to land up at the police station. On seeing such an eminent industrialist at his office, the stubborn police officer was nonplussed & confused. Sethji came & sat next to Ranjan & declared " If you are not going to release him, then book me too, as he is my man".This put the police in an awkward situation. At this very moment the only phone in the police station rang & Mr. Pulaskar picked up the phone & blurted a 'Hello". The next moment he was on his foot fumbling to say "yes sir, yes sir" What was said on the other side could not be heard. Next Mr. Pulaskar came down to Sethji & said "Sir, you can take him & go". At this Ranjan felt very relieved, but the thought of facing Sethj's wrath showed up on him. As Sethji & Ranjan settled into the car along with the other staff members Sethji glowered "I had asked you to look after the security of the factory & what the hell have you done. Do you know one of them is lying in a very critical condition in the hospital"
"Sethji, I had no choice, they provoked me into this" answered Ranjan lamely.
Sethji was a very peace loving person & he disliked such kind of violence & destruction.
"Any way let's see what can be done."
By the time Ranjan returned to the factory along with Sethji, Mr. Nayyar had already reached there & taken stock of the situation. The staff & workers had put in their views & everybody agreed that the kind of action that Ranjan had taken was the only way to teach such goons a lesson. Their only regret was that some of the adjacent shanties that belonged to innocent people had been damaged. At this the management came out with a solution stating that these people would be compensated by the company for rebuilding the same. The concerned people were called to the company & this was conveyed to them. As it would be big trouble if Sultan's father, lying in a critical condition in hospital developed further complications, the company decided to shift him to a better hospital & pay for his medical treatment. Luckily for Ranjan, he survived without any further complications.

A few days after Sultan's father was brought home, Sultan, Usman & the whole gang came up to the company gate & asked for Ranjan. The worried security guard sent a message to Ranjan " Sir those people have come to meet you"
Ranjan 'Send them in" On these the security permitted Sultan & Usman to enter.
They both came up to Ranjan & exchanged pleasantries.
Sultan "Sir we are really sorry for our deeds, please forget the whole matter as a bygone & let us live here peacefully"
Ranjan "Are baba, where are we troubling you, you go your way & we ours. Please don't go back to your old ways, then again we will have to do something & this time it would be far more brutal"
"No sir now onwards we have mended our ways we have only come to broker peace with you"
'Its Ok, you don't have to worry about our boys, we too want to work in peace over here"
At this Usman butted in " Sir come down to our place, its Id tomorrow, on this we will be assured that all is forgotten".
At this one of Ranjan's staff members said 'How do we trust you, you might have some deceitful purpose behind that"
Sultan pleaded " No sir, trust us we really mean peace"
At this Ranjan butted in "Ok I will be there with some of my staff"

The Id incident went of peacefully with a lot of revelry on their side & the whole matter rested with that.

But suddenly Ranjan found out to his awe, that he had become a popular character in that area, in other words a local bhai with his popularity ranging from Versova to Andheri & Goregaon. Now that's another story. Lets end this matter here.




Short story by Raju Swamy
Read 952 times
Written on 2014-09-19 at 06:56

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