Gopal Rajwani

Gopal Rajwani (died 24 January 2000) was a criminal-politician with the Shiv Sena party, from Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra (a suburb of Mumbai). Formerly associated with the ganglord Dawood Ibrahim, he joined the Shiv Sena in 1996. He was killed as he was appearing in a court case at Ulhasnagar in January 2000.

Rajwani began his life selling papadums in Ulhasnagar. At one point, he met gangster Govind Vachani and rose rapidly in the crime world. He later joined the criminal-politician Pappu Kalani and was arrested in 1982-83 for the murder of the editor A V Narayan of Blitz magazine. The case could not be sustained, however; no witnesses would come forward to testify and he was acquitted.

In 1985, he fell out with Kalani over division of extortion money. Meanwhile, Pappu Kalani had become politically powerful with the Indian National Congress party - he was to be elected from Ulhasnagar the following year. That April, Rajwani was arrested in an extortion case, apparently at Kalani's bidding. As Rajwani was being escorted to the Vithalwadi police station in a rickshaw, Kalani arranged for his men to attack him with bombs and guns. Rajwani survived the attack, but was seriously injured and was admitted to the JJ Hospital. Here, he met Haji Mastan, a notorious smuggler and senior don of that time. Haji Mastan took Rajwani under his wings and arranged for him to go to Dubai.

In Dubai, he met Dawood Ibrahim and began helping him buy real estate in Mumbai. Among the properties he negotiated was a flat in Lokhandwala Complex, which was to be the scene of a famous shootout where the "encounter" specialist (Policeman known for killing off gangsters) Aftaab Ahmed Khan gunned down six of Dawood's aides including Maya Dolas. Much of the fourteen-hour encounter was televised live and made Khan a celebrity.

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