D-Company is a name coined by the Indian media for the

Bombay underworld Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is d ...

organized criminal syndicate founded and controlled by Dawood Ibrahim, an

Indian mafia Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is d ...

boss,

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

and wanted

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. In 2011, Ibrahim, along with his D-Company, was number three on the FBI's "

The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William Ki ...

" list. It has been designated as a Global Terrorist Organization under the SDN by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy o ...

, with addresses in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Overview

Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar (died 12 February 1981) was notorious Indian criminal based in Mumbai. He was the elder brother of Dawood Ibrahim, the current gang leader of the D-Company. The risen of Shabir and Dawood in Mumbai's underworld and the sym ...

and Dawood Ibrahim established a criminal syndicate in 1970s India. Other prominent members of the gang include

Chhota Shakeel Chhota Shakeel (born 31 December 1955) is an Indian crime boss and a high-ranking leader of the D-Company, a criminal group based in South Asia. He joined the D-Company in 1988 under the kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, and was reportedly responsible ...

Tiger Memon Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razzaq Memon (born 24 November 1960), better known by the nickname Tiger Memon, is a gangster and terrorist, reputed to be one of the masterminds behind the 1993 Mumbai bombings. He is wanted by Interpol and the Central Bur ...

Yakub Memon Yakub or Yaqub ( ar, يعقوب‎, Yaʿqūb or Ya'kūb , links=no, also transliterated in other ways) is a male given name. It is the Arabic version of Jacob and James. The Arabic form ''Ya'qūb/Ya'kūb'' may be direct from the Hebrew or indirec ...

(linked),

Abu Salem Abu Salem ( ; born Abu Salem Abdul Qayoom Ansari), also known as Aqil Ahmed Azmi and Abu Samaan, is an Indian criminal gangster and terrorist Mumbai police The Mumbai Police ( Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibilit ...

and other underworld dons such as

Chhota Rajan Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje (born 13 January 1959), popularly known by his moniker Chhota Rajan, is an Indian gangster who served as the boss of a major crime syndicate based in Mumbai. While living in Tilak Nagar, a big colony for the low-inco ...

Ejaz Lakdawala Ejaz Lakdawala is one of the most wanted gangsters from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. In May 2003, he was rumoured to have been killed when Dawood's gang-members, also known as D-Company, angered by his allegiance to Chota Rajan, opened fire ...

, who was arrested in Canada in 2004, and

Arun Gawli Arun Gulab Gawli (born 17 July 1955) also known as Arun Gulab Ahir, is an Indian politician, underworld don and retired gangster. Gawli and his brother Kishor (Pappa) entered the Mumbai underworld in the 1970s, when they joined the "Byculla C ...

History

In the 1970s, Dawood Ibrahim worked for a local smuggler named Bashu Dada. Bashu Dada had a close friendship with Dawood's father, who was a policeman. His father wielded immense clout among the gangsters and common people due to his sense of morality and justice, while also being a part of the Crime Branch. However, Bashu Dada and Dawood had a falling-out after Bashu Dada insulted the latter's father. In 1976, Dawood – along with seven of his close friends and his elder brother

– attacked Basu Dada with empty soda bottles, a first in the history of gang warfare in Bombay. After this incident Bashu Dada's key enforcer Khalid Pehlwan persuaded Dawood to start his smuggling operations, which led to the formation of the D Company. Dawood and his elder brother Shabir, with the help of Khalid Pehlwan, began their smuggling operations. This ultimately led them to clash with the Pathan gang, the most influential gang in Mumbai at the time. By 1986, D Company had eliminated most of the Pathan gang leadership, emerging as the dominant gang in Mumbai. In 1993, D-Company associates were involved in

1993 Bombay bombings The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 12 terrorist bombings that took place in Bombay, Maharashtra, on 12 March 1993. The single-day attacks resulted in 257 fatalities and 1,400 injuries. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, l ...

. Few have been jailed for it. In 1997, D-Company former member Abu Salem and Fazlur Rahman was responsible for the murder of T-Series founder and

Bollywood music Hindi film songs, more formally known as Hindi Geet or filmi songs and informally known as Bollywood music, are songs featured in Hindi films. Derived from the song-and-dance routines common in Indian films, Bollywood songs, along with danc ...

producer

Gulshan Kumar Gulshan Kumar Dua (5 May 1951 12 August 1997), was an Indian businessman, film and music producer who was the founder of the Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series) music label in the Bollywood industry. He founded T-Series in the 1980s ...

. In 2011, Indian intelligence agencies managed to link Dawood Company with the

2G spectrum case The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance coalition government India were involved in selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditions that prov ...

, through DB Realty and DB Etisalat (formerly Swan Telecom) promoted by

Shahid Balwa ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith ...

. Later in March, security at CBI headquarters in Delhi was tightened after it had been suggested that D-Company might launch an attack in an attempt to destroy documents relating to the ongoing probe of the 2G spectrum case. In 2015, a US Congressional report alleged that the D-Company was a "5,000-member criminal syndicate operating mostly in Pakistan, India, and the United Arab Emirates," which has a "strategic alliance" with

ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...

and has "forged relationships with Islamists, including

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

and

al-Qaida Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countri ...

." However, the report had no political implications, and was mainly to brief lawmakers. Dawood was also wire-tapped by Indian investigators who found out he had real estate assets in Dubai under someone else's name. In 2018, Dr Louise Shelley, Professor at the

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

, stated that the D-Company was now mainly based in Pakistan and had diversified its assets like Mexican drug organisations.

In popular culture

At times, Dawood Company has been linked to the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

film industry, as well as real estate and betting businesses, from which it is said to derive considerable revenue. The 2002 film ''

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

'' is based loosely on its activities, as well as its sequel (prequel to the storyline) '' D'' (2005), ''

Shootout at Lokhandwala ''Shootout at Lokhandwala'' is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed and co-written by Apoorva Lakhia and co-written and co-produced by Sanjay Gupta, with Ekta Kapoor serving as producer and Suresh Nair serving as writer. ...

'' (2007), and ''

Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai ''Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'' is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language gangster film written by Rajat Arora and directed by Milan Luthria. It stars Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi Desai and Randeep Hooda. Produced by Ekta Kapoor u ...

'' (2010). The 2013 film ''

Shootout at Wadala ''Shootout at Wadala'' is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language biographical-gangster-crime film written and directed by Sanjay Gupta. It is a prequel to the 2007 film ''Shootout at Lokhandwala''. It is loosely based on the book '' Dongri to Dubai: Si ...

'' is based on the rise of the D-Company. It also features in Salman Rushdie's 2018 novel ''The Golden House.''

Activity

D-Company makes large amounts of money through extortion, kidnapping, racketeering,

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are variou ...

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiate ...

, and

contract killings Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

. For example, D-Company took advantage to smuggle gold and silver during Mumbai's economic struggles of the 1980s. According to Materia Islamica, they smuggled approximately 25-30% of India's total gold and silver imports. This created a monopoly that allowed their leader, Dawood Ibrahim to set his own selling prices throughout India.

References

{{Reflist

External links