My Name Is Abu Salem

Mumbai has produced many dons—but perhaps none so colourful as Abu Salem. The flamboyant ex-aide of Dawood Ibrahim is best known for his involvement in the Mumbai blasts of 1993 and for the murder of music composer Gulshan Kumar. But he became equally famous for his relationship with actress Monica Bedi and his close connection to Bollywood, leading to a number of attempted murders of the film industry’s biggest names. Now comes the ultimate telling of his life from the writer who knows the Mumbai underworld better than anyone else. Gripping, full of unknown details and first-hand accounts, My Name is Abu Salem is another unputdownable book from S. Hussain Zaidi.

"Mumbai has produced many dons - but perhaps none so colourful as Abu Salem. The flamboyant ex-aide of Dawood Ibrahim is best known for his involvement in the Mumbai blasts of 1993 and for the murder of music composer Gulshan Kumar. But he became equally famous for his relationship with actress Monica Bedi and his close connection to Bollywood, leading to a number of attempted murders of the film industry{u2019}s biggest names. Now comes the ultimate telling of his life from the writer who knows the Mumbai underworld better than anyone else"--Publisher's description.

On the afternoon of 12 March 1993, a series of explosions cut a swathe of terror and destruction through Bombay. The toll: 257 killed or missing, 713 injured, and a city in a shambles. In Black Friday, S. Hussain Zaidi takes us into the heart of the conspiracy which spanned several countries and the massive investigation that ensued. A product of four years of meticulous research, the book gives chilling insights into the criminal mind, through interviews with close associates of Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, among others. The characters we meet are compelling: the terrorists, the corrupt law enforcement agents who abetted the plot, the investigators who would stop at nothing, and, above all, the people of Bombay of whose resilient spirit this book is a celebration. Riveting and incisive, Black Friday reveals the true dimensions of a horrific tragedy which shook the nation.

Five years after 26/11 - the siege of terror in Mumbai that brought the country to its knees - India still seeks justice. The terrorists who planned it have disappeared into the darkness they emerged from and Mumbai seethes with fury. All the Indian government has achieved is the establishment of counter-terrorism committees. But one man will stop at nothing in his quest to avenge the dastardly act. Retired Lt Gen. Sayed Ali Waris of the Indian army masterminds a covert mission with a team of daredevil agents: a sharp policeman, a suave tech expert, a cerebral scientist and two battle-hardened army officers. They strike like lightning even as they are pursued by the Pakistani army and the ISI, combing through every land and possibility in pursuit of the deadly killers. From Sweden to Istanbul, through Dubai, Pakistan and Singapore, they annihilate the perpetrators with single-minded focus, veiling the deaths as natural ones to save the Indian government diplomatic and political embarrassment. The stakes have never been higher. This is a nifty, edge-of-your seat thriller with an intricate plot and jaw-dropping twists. As Waris and his team navigate untold dangers towards a nail-biting climax, will Mumbai finally be avenged?

Three years ago, the brutal killing of a young TV producer called Neeraj Grover sent shockwaves through Mumbai. An alluring aspiring actress, Maria Susairaj, and her dashing naval officer boyfriend, Emile Jerome, were accused of killing him and hacking his body into pieces, before setting it on fire. The cast of characters was young, attractive, and upwardly mobile, the press hungry for a headline. As details of the case unravelled, the questions flew around—what had gone wrong? What made these young professionals turn to violent crime? Was it the savage pressure of the city, or was the motive even darker? This book will shock and inspire a much needed change in perception of celebrity culture and Bollywood. It’s about so much more than a contested killing case and will be a talking point for years to come.

Tired of being bullied, a scrawny, impoverished Dawood Ibrahim is looking for a saviour, Khalid Khan Bachcha, who would teach him the ropes of handling a bunch of hooligans. Instead, what he gets is a mentor who eventually transforms him into a cunning mafia boss. In Dawood's Mentor, Dawood meets Khalid and they eventually forge an unlikely friendship. Together they defeat, crush and neutralize every mafia gang in Mumbai. Khalid lays the foundation for the D-Gang as Dawood goes on to establish a crime syndicate like no other and becomes India's most wanted criminal.

Dongri to Dubai is the first ever attempt to chronicle the history of the Mumbai mafia. It is the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem, but above all, it is the story of a young man who went astray despite having a father in the police force. Dawood Ibrahim was initiated into crime as a pawn in the hands of the Mumbai police and went on to wipe out the competition and eventually became the Mumbai police’s own nemesis.The narrative encompasses several milestones in the history of crime in India, from the rise of the Pathans, formation of the Dawood gang, the first ever supari, mafia’s nefarious role in Bollywood, Dawood’s move to Karachi, and Pakistan’s subsequent alleged role in sheltering one of the most wanted persons in the world.This story is primarily about how a boy from Dongri became a don in Dubai, and captures his bravado, cunningness, focus, ambition, and lust for power in a gripping narrative. The meticulously researched book provides an in-depth and comprehensive account of the mafia’s games of supremacy and internecine warfare.

The high-stakes game of the underworld has new faces, working for and against Dawood Ibrahim - the shadowy, manipulative figure that pulls the strings. Dawood's own deputy turned arch-rival Chhota Rajan, thug-turned-politician Arun Gawli, Amar (Raavan) Naik and his engineer brother Ashwin Naik, and a host of other characters, big and small, walk the pages of this compelling history of the Maharashtrian mobsters who were once dubbed 'amchi muley', 'our boys', by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Equally fascinating are the stories of the famous - and infamous - policemen and 'encounter specialists' who took the gangs on with great success and not too many scruples. Violence and deceit one expects to read of, but the strength of this book is also its ability to capture the mundane - almost naive - beginnings of what very quickly became the organized crime and brutal vendettas that held Mumbai to ransom through the last decades of the twentieth century. Meticulously researched and thrillingly told by the acknowledged expert on the underworld, this is faster-paced than Dongri to Dubai, and even more chilling in its implications for India and the subcontinent.