Gangster or an Imposter.
By: Deepak Sethi
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Writing, Fiction, Short Story

The city of Mumbai had been reeling under a massive spurt in crime. Police had lost all the will power to enforce law and order. There were regular cases of shootouts between rival gangs. One of the gangs stood out in ruthlessness and sophistication to commit crime. It was the black cobra gang.

Rarely any of the members of the gang was ever convicted. There were rumors floating in the city that it had penetrated its tentacles in the government machinery and the judiciary and could influence any decision.

It had become more of a mafia providing protection to the industry and collecting money from them in return. This money was used to bribe judges and the government officials to get their work done.

There were reports in newspapers that one of the police officers had been raided by the Central bureau of investigation and crores of rupees were unearthed from his residence. He had properties in every part of the country.

On investigation it was revealed that he was on the payroll of the black cobra gang and used to act as conduit for their messages, often passing department secrets to them. Whenever a plan was made to arrest any of the gang member, he used to tip them off and they in turn used to be alerted;hence never been caught or hid their ill gotten wealth.

Every industry felt the presence of the gang, the film industry in the financing of movies, real estate, corporate houses, dance bars, drugs, kidnapping, illegal migration; you name any illegal work and its hand was involved. But they were so smart that they never used to be caught due to their influence.

Soon a black day arrived in the annals of the city. All the newspapers carried the headlines that the commissioner of police had been shot at and was fighting for his life in a city hospital.

He was considered to be one of the most honest and upright officers and since his transfer to Mumbai a year back; the gang had begun to feel the heat due to his persistent crackdown on their business and many of their gang members were being eliminated in encounters.

After a day it came to light that the younger brother of the police commissioner had gone missing and their father had died due to the resulting shock.

A meeting was being held in the outskirts of Mumbai in a big Farm house. People had assembled around a table and all of them were in a black dress with the tattoo mark of a black cobra on their right arm.

Twenty persons were present in a room. They were all waiting for their boss, a man in his fifties.Soon a bald man arrived; he was in black coat and tie. All the gangsters stood up as a mark of respect.He raised his hands and gestured them to sit.

Quickly he arrived at a seat at one end of the table and sat down. All the gangsters were quiet, eagerly waiting for him to begin the talk. He was playing with a paper weight lying on the table spinning it again and again. All of a sudden, he looked at one of the gangsters and spoke;

“Peter you were negotiating for the land of empire mills. Has the owner agreed to sell?”

“We were willing to pay Rs 200 million. But he is not willing to settle for anything less than 400 million.Any amount of threats is not working.” Peter replied.

“Anyone who does not listen to us has no right to live in this world. Just send our best trigger man to bump him off.” Christopher Sharma, the boss authoritatively ordered and Peter nodded in agreement.

He now turned towards Michael “Has the film producer agreed to sell us the rights to the territories of his next movie. After all we will gain a lot as he is the best producer in town”

“He was refusing but when we took out the bean shooter he got a shock of his life and agreed to our terms.” Michael replied.

“And what about the heroine for the movie. I want that babe Sandhya to star in the movie.”

“He has agreed to all of our terms.” Michael replied.

“Very good Michael. We require more men like you in our gang.”

The boss now turned towards Cyril. He had joined the gang three years back and had become the blue eyed boy of the boss. His competence lay in dealing with the police and the government department. Any graft or dough that had to be passed onto the police or the government officials; he used to come in handy, as he had built good relationship with them.

“This police commissioner Vijay Kumar has become a pain in our ass. I don’t know how to deal with him.He doesn’t accept any bribe and doesn’t leave us in peace. He survived attack on his life by our chopper squad. This has made him all the more determined and he is after our skin.

The government has increased his security. His actions against our gang members have made him the darling of the public.I want peace in my business. Cyril, I wonder if you can work out a deal with the commissioner.”

“He is believed to be a man of principles. They say his father brought him up in such an atmosphere.He would prefer to die than bend against anyone. But you wishes are my order. I will try to do anything to bring him to the negotiating table.” Cyril replied raising level of confidence in Christopher.

“This is what I expect of you. I know you have never failed in your dealings. Let’s see how you deal with the situation. You can have all the money you want but do try to bring him to the negotiating table. In the end if he does not agree, we would have to eliminate him at any cost. This time there would be no mistake from our side. He would straightaway meet the gods either in heaven or the hell. The only thing is we don’t want enmity with the law, if we can turn them in our favor, the much better.” Christopher completed his sentence.

“I understand boss” Cyril replied.

“I have not heard you playing the flute for a long time.When I hear you play it brings peace to my soul.”Christopher demanded with a smile.

Cyril took out a flute from his pocket and for five minutes played the instrument. All were spellbound and clapped after he stopped playing.

Soon the meeting was over and the gangsters dispersed after discussing all the things on their agenda.

Cyril now got busy with the work. He had to arrange a meeting of his boss with the police commissioner or either try to thaw the relationship between the police and the gangsters. All the resources were there at his disposal. He could use any amount of money that he required, but since the commissioner was considered to be incorruptible man money was of no use.

He began to try to reach the commissioner through a network of informers and began to impress on the police that a meeting would be good for the peace of the city.

Vijay Kumar agreed to meet Christopher and a meeting was arranged at a five star hotel. Being a punctual man he was there 15 minutes before the agreed time. He had reached there with two of his trusted policemen. They were now waiting for Christopher, the gang boss.Music was played around and a dancer was performing to the beats of the music.

At sharp 8:00 PM, Christopher entered the room and proceeded towards a table at the corner of the room. Reaching there he shook hands with the commissioner of police.

“It is my good luck to have met the commissioner of Mumbai police. I have become a great fan of yours after reading of your honesty and straightforwardness.”

“How can you be my fan? If you were my fan you would not have ordered for my shooting”Vijaykumar was blunt in his talks.

The blunt and honest remark hurt the boss where it mattered the most “Let bygones be bygones. We can become good friends. We have always had friendly relationship with police in the past. You can ask for any amount of money. It would be not a constraint. We can instantly make you a multimillionaire.

If you don’t like money we can always donate the money for noble cause; for the policemen who have laid their lives for the good of the society. But please don’t interfere with our work. All the previous police officers have had good relationship with us.”

“See Christopher, you can’t buy my honesty. I have come here to meet you and in order to warn you that you better leave the city for good. Your nefarious activities have harmed the city. If you don’t want to land in jail, you have to give up on your activities.”Vijaykumar’s face had become very stern and he was displaying no emotions.”

“What use is all the enmity? It will not benefit you in any way.” Christopher was taken aback with the sudden warning.

“Till the time I am here as a commissioner you will not be able to carry on with your nefarious activities. It is the last time I am warning you. Otherwise the next time you will be in jail.”

Christopher looked at the five men who had accompanied him. They suddenly took out guns and one of them placed it at the head of Vijaykumar. The other men too placed their guns at the head of the two policemen, even before they could react.

“I had come here to negotiate with you. But it appears that you don’t want to live in this world any longer. We have killed many policemen and you would be an addition in my fair list. My friend! I am really sorry that we have to kill you. Anyone who disagrees with us has no right to live in this world.” Christopher now displayed a crooked smile.

But before the gangsters could do anything, Christopher found a gun pointed at his temple. He turned around to see; it was Cyril.

“Put the gun down. Why you are doing this. You are my most trusted man. Have I not done enough for you?” some tension appeared on the face of Christopher as he was talking.

“Boss I have high regards for you.You are the best boss, anyone can dream of. But you see, money is not everything in life. Relationships also have some value. Ask the men to put down their guns or you would not be alive to talk any further.”

Everyone now dropped their guns on getting signal from Christopher.

“You would be wondering of what relationship I am talking about?” Cyril began to talk again.

“The police commissioner is my elder brother. After your men shot him we made a plan to reach you and I infiltrated your gang. I was keeping a watch on all your activities and arrangement of a meeting was the last part on our agenda. Now you spend the remaining part of your life in jail.If you want I will visit often and play the flute for you.”

Suddenly one of the gangsters took out his gun, but Cyril was alert and shot at him. He was wounded and fell on the floor. In all the commotion the boss found a chance and tried to run away. Cyril shot at his legs and he fell on the floor. The police soon rounded all the gangsters.

Cyril had achieved success in his mission. Most of the crime in Mumbai had reduced and it became a peaceful city. Cyril as usual enjoyed playing the flute, with nothing to bother him.