Had it not been for Khalid Khan Bachcha, Dawood Ibrahim would not have been Dawood; he would have perished in obscurity long ago, killed either by his rivals or the police, says a new book.
"Dawood's Mentor: The Man Who Made India's Biggest Don" chronicles how Dawood meets Khalid and they eventually forge an unlikely friendship. Together they defeat and neutralise every mafia gang in Mumbai. Khalid lays the foundation for the D-Gang as Dawood goes on to establish a crime syndicate and becomes India's most wanted criminal.
According to author Hussain Zaidi, Khalid had left an indelible impression in Dawood's mind.
"Khalid had taught him the felicity to survive against the heaviest odds. Khalid's lessons never went waste with Dawood," he writes.
Tired of being bullied, a scrawny, impoverished Dawood was looking for a saviour when Khalid taught him the ropes of handling a bunch of hooligans.
Dawood got a mentor who eventually transformed him into a cunning mafia boss.
Khalid once saved Dawood's life and took a bullet for him. Khalid's presence of mind, courage and agility had saved Dawood from certain death.
"Dawood owed his life and power to this man. The story of this Pathan - Khalid Khan, alias Khalid Pehelwan, alias KP - was untold yet," says Zaidi.
"In my limited understanding of the Mumbai mafia, I had always felt that Khalid was an unlikely gangster and did not belong to the oligarchy of Dawood's gang. Yet, he had become integral to the growing clout, notoriety and power of the gang," he writes in the book published by Penguin Random House.
"I also wanted to know the motivations that drove a pehelwan (wrestler) into the mafia's waiting arms. And most of all I was interested in knowing how Khalid Pehelwan survived Dawood's ire. Imagine disassociating with Dawood and living to tell the tale. I wanted to know why Dawood respected his mentor," he says.
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