Dawood’s 32-year-old connection with Vadodara

VADODARA: Even before underworld don Dawood Ibrahim become the country’s most wanted person and eventually declared a global terrorist by the United States of America, a 32-year-old firing incident near Makarpura still ties him to the cultural capital of Gujarat. In 1983, Dawood’s name appeared in as many as three offences in the city. While one of the offences is considered dormant and another dropped, he is yet to appear before the court in one case.
On June 11, 1983, an incident of firing was reported at Makarpura police station. According to the complaint, Alamzeb, who claimed to be Dawood’s bodyguard accidently fired a shot at him when they were on their way to Mumbai. The incident happened near Makarpura Ring Road. Although Alamzeb is known to be a rival who went on to become an aide and then again a rival of Dawood, in the police records he admitted to shooting him accidentally. While Alamzeb was initially booked for attempt to murder, the case was subsequently dropped.
Police, however, made a windfall when they started searching people who came to meet Dawood. One person who came to see him at the SSG Hospital was caught with a sharp-edged weapon while two others were nabbed with a sharp-edged weapon at Sayajigunj.
The interrogation of the two accused caught at Sayajigunj led the police to the hotel room of Mohammad Chunawala, Chandrashekhar Gadhvi, Narendra Baria and Arvindsinh Jadeja. According to the police, the four accused had come to visit Dawood who was undergoing treatment at SSG Hospital. The police seized three revolvers, two pistols and several live cartridges from the hotel at Sayajigunj where they stayed.
Although, Dawood never turned up for the hearings, the offence still survives in police records at Raopura and Sayajigunj police stations. While the offence at Sayajigunj along with the names of his aides has been declared dormant, the police are waiting for Dawood to appear before the court in connection with the other offence.
“The case is very old and has become dormant over time. However, his name appears in the records and Dawood is still an absconder before the court,” said commissioner of police E Radhakrishana.
Following the firing incident, Dawood was arrested on the evening of July 14 in connection with an offence under Arms Act. He was admitted to SSG Hospital and had occupied bed number 14 of Ward B 1 as an indoor patient after he sustained bullet injuries on his neck.