Builder Natwarlal Desai was cut down by bullets in Nariman Point, Bombay's top business district, and Bharat Kumar, owner of a sari shop, was slain outside his store. Bombay's gangsters have traditionally operated in the shadows, shying away from high-profile assaults on members of the public. But a combination of factors has caused them to change their approach. India's legalizing of gold imports in 1997 has dried up their illicit earnings from smuggling, while a relaxation of currency controls has reduced profits from money laundering. But the biggest change is the slump in the property market, where developers no longer need hoodlum muscle to empty slums and old buildings for fresh construction.
Police say the extortion rackets are partly run by two crime dons living overseas.
They not only fight over turf, but use the press to challenge each other. He claimed he had ordered the daylight murder of the managing director of an Ibrahim-financed airline earlier that year. Faced with the threat of a tax strike by the business community, the authorities have resorted to little-used detention laws to keep suspects off the streets. And still the problem grows. All Rights Reserved.