Aftab Ahmed Khan (27 February 1940 — 21 January 2022) was a former

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

police officer ( IPS) and politician from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. He is noted for his

encounter killings Encounter killings, often simply referred to as encounters, is a euphemism used in South Asia to refer to extrajudicial killings by security forces. The officers typically described the incidents as a shootout situation, often allegedly starting ...

of gangsters from the

organized crime syndicates. He is also known as the founder of Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in 1990.

Early life and background

His father A.S. Khan had been a noted Public Prosecutor in undivided

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

and then in

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created in 1950 from the erstwhile Bombay Province, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Province (in British India roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Mah ...

, practising at the Aurangabad Sessions Court and the High Court.

Career

An officer of the

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

, Khan was a Deputy Inspector General of Police in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

state in the 1980s. He shot into fame with the

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

at the

Lokhandwala Complex Lokhandwala Complex, also known as Lokhandwala, is a large upmarket and affluent residential and commercial neighbourhood in Andheri West suburb in Mumbai, India. It is approximately 5 km from Andheri station. The name Lokhandwala com ...

Andheri Andheri (Help:IPA/Marathi, �n̪d̪ʱeɾiː is a suburb situated in Western Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Government and politics For administrative purposes, Andheri is bifurcated into Andheri (west) and Andheri (east). Andheri (west) comes ...

, in which seven gangsters including

Maya Dolas Maya Dolas (born Mahindra Dolas; 15 October 1966 — 16 November 1991) was an Indian gangster who was a big time crook and MC/BC and used to work for the D-Company don, Dawood Ibrahim. He was killed in an encounter at the 1991 Lokhandwala Comp ...

and

Dilip Buwa Dilip Buwa (born Dilip Kohok; 1962 – 16 November 1991) was an Indian gangster who used to work for the D-Company, an international crime syndicate of the Mumbai underworld led by Dawood Ibrahim. He was one of the men who were killed in 19 ...

were killed in 1991. Khan was commissioned as an IPS officer in 1963 in the Maharashtra Cadre. He served as SDPO (DySP) of Miraj (1965-1967) and Baramati (1967-1968), Addl. SP (HQ) of

Ahmednagar District Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ, officially Ahilyanagar district, is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical city of Ahmednagar is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar ...

(1968-1969), Addl. SP (Town)

Nashik Nashik, formerly Nasik, is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra situated on the banks of the river Godavari, about northeast of the state capital Mumbai. Nashik is one of the Hindu pilgrimage sites of the Kumbh ...

(1969-1971), Acting Commandant in the rank of Addl. SP of SRPF Group II at Pune (1971-1973), SP of Satara District (1973–1975), DCP of

Mumbai Police Detection Unit Detection Unit consisted of several high-profile officers of Mumbai Police. The squad primarily dealt with members of the Mumbai underworld and other criminal gangs. Gang wars in Mumbai The Unit came to be known as the "Encounter Squad" because ...

(1975–1977), Commandant of Group VIII at Mumbai (1977–1978), SP of

Amravati District Amravati district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �mɾaːʋət̪iː is a Districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in central India. It is the administrative headquarter of Amravati division, which is one of the two ...

(1978–1980), SSP of

Thane District Thane district (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a districts of Maharashtra, district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the c ...

in which capacity he was involved in the raising of the Thane Commissionerate as Addl. Commissioner (I) in the rank of SSP and later DIG (1980–1984), DIG (Sector Commander) of CRPF on deputation in Punjab (1984–1986), Joint Director of IB (Haryana) in 1986–1987 on Central Deputation, Addl. CP of Mumbai Police Crime Branch (1987–1989), DIG (State Intelligence Bureau) (1989–1990), Addl. CP (North) (1990–1993) and Jt. Cp (Crime) (1993–1995) of

Mumbai Police The Greater Mumbai Police (Marathi language, Marathi: बृहन्मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Brihanmumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay City Police'') is the Police, police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a cit ...

. He retired 2 years prematurely as ADG (Training) of

Maharashtra Police Maharashtra Police (IAST: ''Mahārāṣṭra Polīs Sēvā'', formerly '' Bombay State Police'') is the law enforcement agency responsible for the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is headed by Director General of Police, Rashmi Shukla (IPS), an ...

in 1997. In the mid-1990s, Khan sought to build on his media image by entering politics. Initially expressing interest in joining the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...

, he eventually went with the

Janata Dal Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

, with whom he stood for elections in the Mumbai North-west constituency in 1998. However, he was unsuccessful.

Later life and death

Khan later helped to run a private security agency that he set up in 1996, along with his son. Following a bout of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, he died of pneumonia in Mumbai on 21 January 2022, at the age of 81.

In popular culture

In 2007, producer

Apoorva Lakhia Apoorva Lakhia is an Indian film director. Early life Lakhia was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, India. He was educated at the Lawrence School, Sanawar. He dropped out of a filmmaking course in New York University to assist Mira Nair on '' ...

directed the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

Shootout at Lokhandwala ''Shootout at Lokhandwala'' is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Apoorva Lakhia and produced by Sanjay Gupta, and Ekta Kapoor. Based on the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout, a real-life gun battle bet ...

'', which was based on the

1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout The 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout was a gunbattle that occurred on 16 November 1991 at the Lokhandwala Complex, Mumbai, between seven gangsters led by Maya Dolas and members of the Bombay Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) led by t ...

led by Aftab Ahmed Khan. Khan was also portrayed in the film as Additional Police Commissioner Shamsher Khan played by

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who works in Hindi cinema in addition to a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi films. Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 160 films. ...

. He himself appeared as Commissioner Krishnamurthy in the film as well. He also played a court judge in 2012's Four Two Ka One.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Aftab Ahmed 1940 births 2022 deaths Indian Muslims Indian Police Service officers Janata Dal politicians Maharashtra politicians 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout Police officers from Mumbai Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India