In the 1970s, Dawood Ibrahim worked for a local smuggler named Bashu Dada. Bashu Dada was close friends 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.[citation needed] 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 Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar – 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 1997, D-Company former member Abu Salem and Fazlur Rahman was responsible for the murder of T-Series founder and Bollywood music producer Gulshan Kumar.[7]
In 2011, Indian intelligence agencies managed to link Dawood Company with the 2G spectrum case, through DB Realty and DB Etisalat (formerly Swan Telecom) promoted by Shahid Balwa. 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.[8][9]
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 and has "forged relationships with Islamists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaida." However, the report had no political implications, and was mainly to brief lawmakers.[10]
Dawood was also wire-tapped by Indian investigators who found out he had real estate assets in Dubai under someone else's name.[11]
In 2018, Dr Louise Shelley, Professor at the George Mason University, stated that the D-Company was now mainly based in Pakistan and had diversified its assets like Mexican drug organisations.[12]
In popular culture
At times, Dawood Company has been linked to the Bollywood film industry, as well as real estate and betting businesses, from which it is said to derive considerable revenue.[citation needed]The 2002 film Company is based loosely on its activities, as well as its sequel (prequel to the storyline) D (2005), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), and Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010).[13] The 2013 film Shootout at Wadala 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, drug trafficking, smuggling, narcotics, and contract killings. 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.[14]
