Crime and reformation

Book review of Gangster on the Run: The True Story of a Reformed Criminal

To Rahul, crime had been easy. Being a criminal wasn’t.” These opening lines from one of the chapters of Puja Changoiwala’s Gangster on the run: The true story of a reformed criminal sum up the entire book. Still, it does not have a preachy, motivational tone nor is this a long, circuitous journey to drive home the age-old maxim, “crime never pays”.

The author deserves credit for presenting like a racy thriller a real-life account of former gangster Rahul Jadhav alias Bhiku — his crimes, struggles and the ultimate transformation that saw him becoming a marathoner in his early 40s.

In doing so, she has dealt well with two handicaps that most other “Bombay Underworld” writers who have penned larger-than-life stories hadn’t encountered. First, Mr Jadhav was, in all fairness, way down the underworld food chain unlike, say, Dawood Ibrahim. Also, the heydays in crime for this relative lightweight coincided with the decline of the underworld (even his area of influence was mostly beyond the city limits of Mumbai, in Dombivali). Secondly, with Mr Jadhav being accessible and his criminal history being recent, the author did not have the luxury of passing off legends and unsubstantiated but interesting anecdotes as true stories.

Surmounting the twin challenges, Ms Changoiwala has written a refreshingly candid account based on free-wheeling conversations between the author and her muse and his ageing parents who often bore the brunt of Mr Jadhav’s obsession with crime and alcohol. The biographical sketch is, thus, almost autobiographical. At any rate, Mr Jadhav is truthful to the extent that he even owns up for crimes for which he was acquitted.  

The story does not begin with a kill (in fact, Mr Jadhav never murdered anyone), chase sequence or custodial experience but a tragedy on Rahul’s 10th birthday that left him scarred for life. That anecdote was to become a template for his early life where he loved and lost, had unremarkable academic achievements despite being an avid reader and had to make peace with the modest means provided by an honest and upright father.

Crime, in a way, was a solace because it provided him the life for which he had always yearned. The clout of those above him in the hierarchy and other gangsters whose crimes were all over the newspapers provided further incentive. Mentors such as extortionists Daya Mahajan and later Jaidev Reddy played their parts with guidance and assignments as did the movie Satya whose character Bhiku Mahatre (played by Manoj Bajpayee) inspired him to adopt the nickname.  

Gangster on the Run: The True Story of a Reformed Criminal

Author: Puja Changoiwala

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Pages: 279

Price: Rs 399

In his formative years as a gangster, Mr Jadhav paid little attention to a cop’s warning to his parents, and their attempts to persuade him to take up a computer graphic designing course yielded precious little. If anything, he used his computer skills to save his mafia bosses the effort of scanning printed directories to identify and target extortion victims or helping the same bosses evade police surveillance while running the extortion businesses from abroad.

As the story progresses, the staples of the Mumbai underworld ecosystem — cops, courts, dance bars, shootings, chase sequences— make regular appearances as do the man’s struggles with alcoholism, depression and anxiety. That it took the police 10 years to arrest Mr Jadhav, who conducted his criminal activities from the comfort of the parental home, shows their crime detection methods in a poor light. His alcoholism grew from bad to worse in these years. At one point, he was drinking one bottle of whiskey a day, that being his only diet on some days. In fact, when he was first arrested, his only request to the sleuths was to provide him with alcohol, without which he could not speak, a request they granted.

The seeds of a reformed life were sown during his stay in prison when he had started realising the price of freedom and the futility of the criminal life. His reading skills came in handy in identifying the loopholes in prosecution. He was helped by others to get bail or acquittals, notable among them was a fellow inmate, an alleged terrorist who was involved in the 2006 Mumbai local train bombings and the late criminal lawyer Shahid Azmi.    

Crime subsided but alcoholism still consumed Mr Jadhav. His family made one last effort to use their meagre savings for rehab. It is surprising that the writer leaves very little space for the reform part. However condensed, the struggles at rehab, and the journey from there to ending up as a counsellor are interesting. Today, he leads a disciplined and happy life having left his past far behind.

And he runs. As the book puts it, “An endurance runner, Rahul has participated in over two dozen marathons, where he has covered over 3,000 kilometers over hundreds of hours. His total run so far is 10,000 kilometers. When he runs long distances, he does not heed the blisters on his feet, the fire in his calves or the nausea in his gut. His mind fleas with his body and, unaware of the destination, he savours the journey. Running to him is now bigger than a sport — he runs in joy, and he runs in melancholy…” Quite a turnaround for a man who once dreamt of ruling the whole world by wielding a gun.