New Delhi: Mohammad Taslim, a close aide of slain underworld don Abdul Latif whose life is believed to have inspired Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees, was arrested by the Gujarat Police on Saturday after being on the run since 2019 when he was released on parole.
The Gujarat Police nabbed Taslim, who had been serving a life sentence in the 1992 Radhika Gymkhana massacre case, in Udaipur following a seven-month manhunt that relied on both technical and human intelligence.
Police sources said Taslim jumped his parole in 2019, changed his identity and location many times, and worked as a taxi driver and property dealer in Rajasthan and Haryana to evade law-enforcement agencies.
Gujarat Police sources told ThePrint that Taslim cut his beard and changed phone number every 15 days to stay off their radar. Using aliases such as Salim and Umar, he had been living a quiet life with his wife and two children for the past seven years.
“He was in hiding for the last seven years. He was in Jodhpur, then driving cabs in Gurugram and Sikar, and finally back to Udaipur,” the Investigating Officer said.
DCP (Crime Branch) Ajit Rajian told ThePrint that he was apprehended during a coordinated tactical operation and had been taken into custody. “Legal procedures are underway to return him to Sabarmati Central Jail,” he said.
Inducted into Latif’s gang as a teenager in the 1990s, Taslim became one of his most trusted sharpshooters. The gang ran Gujarat’s illicit liquor trade in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was later convicted in two of Gujarat’s most notorious gangland cases—the 1992 Radhika Gymkhana massacre involving a shootout targeting a rival bootlegger, and the murder of former Rajya Sabha MP Rauf Valiullah.
Latif built a cadre of young recruits who helped him establish one of western India’s most feared criminal syndicates. His network stretched across state borders, and his gang wielded AK-47 assault rifles at a time when most police forces in the country, including Gujarat Police, did not possess them.
Nine people were killed in the Radhika Gymkhana massacre on 3 August 1992 in Ahmedabad’s Odhav area. The attack was carried out by gunmen linked to Abdul Latif’s gang.
Taslim, who originally hailed from Rajasthan, managed to win Latif’s trust and operated as the main man handling the liquor business in his state.
Police said Taslim was imprisoned in 1992 and was released on parole for 45 days on 6 April 2019, but never came back.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: Underworld is not dead. It just turned remote and tech-savvy, says Rakesh Maria