THE EXTORTION ECONOMY

 

 

 

Extortion is both a parallel economy and a deterrent of growth of economy. A higher rate of extortion in a state creates a negative spill-over effect on the flow of private investment in the state from the private entrepreneurs. Government policies of controlling extortion give significant returns in terms of flow of private investment in a state, and the growth of the state’s industry, employment and economy. Illegal drugs, weapons and violence are all close accompaniments of extortion and they show their ugly head from time to time.

The extortion culture in Mumbai has a long history. It goes beyond the cotton trade industries in the British era. The low profile extortion networks are working all around us rather efficiently among traffic rules, street vendors, illegal road encroachments, meter bypassing electricity connections and so on. You face official extortion in courts, municipal offices, waterworks and electricity sub-stations and often your file wouldn't move without an untold price! Eventually, extortion has become a part of the legitimate economy. Recently the Health Minister of one state and the Home Minister of another are behind bars for being stupid enough to get caught in this game.

The underground extortion economy flourishes by manipulating the system with the convenience of officials within it. The sprawling event paved the opportunity of working undercover operations of funding colossal political leaders to conduct their activities, remember Adarsh housing society. The organizations aligned with the political parties stole the limelight when they successfully reiterated smuggling businesses. The funding got operated with quid pro quos- the previous version of electoral bonds. The extortion syndrome is spreading rapidly, and even draconian measures like demonetization did not help.

One of the earliest extortion story was of the renowned Ahmadabad gangster, Abdul Latif who successfully operated a vandalized shakedown racket. His bootlegging operations thrived in the officially no-alcohol Gujarat. Goods were routed via Bombay where the heroic Varadarajan Maudaliar’s bootlegging and smuggling businesses boomed! His shocking catastrophic achievements did not ambush under any ruling government, making him the prolific gang leader of the whole racket. Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Yusuf Patel began as petty criminals and established independent gangs, each with its network of small-time crooks and contract killers. Their motive didn’t get disrupted and they continued serving the Indian political administration with bulks of money. The gangs of the 1980s treated Bombay as their chessboard, knocking off one another off in a bid to supremacy.

The post-liberalization year’s shock-waves were wiggling through Indian citizens, while Dawood Ibrahim foot soldiers made hafta-vasuli the norm of Mumbai. At that time, the rescuable motive faded away as the government found ways to acquire more money in their pockets. The deep lines would threaten every Indian citizen as to how Mumbai is drowned into the extensive cores of the racket. Between 1961 and 1991, the incident of violent crimes in the city increased manifold. The report in cases of extortion was so low that the regulators in the State Department could not even have a clue of how big it had become. The number of people approached for extortion spiked but the number of cases registered only increased marginally as the victim was afraid of his life, his family and his profession.

The techniques too have transformed over time, and it goes beyond the usual hafta. Control and possession of land, Construction rights of old buildings which are redeveloped, or sleeping partnerships with real estate industries have been the go-to pattern of extortion today. The creation of false cases has dragged the police hierarchy into the loophole. They get a whopping amount for trading off a false narrative in court to later reach an out-of-court settlement.

The gangs were naturally attracted towards show business and first started extorting hefty sums from cinema artists and promising them protection in the city of dreams. Then they became greedy and wasted to be idolized in movies and a string of movies glorifying smugglers, con artists, hit-men, gang lords and goons followed, who were invariably shown as people with a golden heart, ignored and castigated by the society in their early life when they tried to make a honest living! In the subsequent avatar these extortionists started dictating their choice of actors to the producers and even became silent partners in production houses. Easy money thus earned brought respectability and personal intimacy with members of the film industry.

The most sizzling recent avatar of extortion was a SUV stacked with 20 gelatine sticks found parked near Mr. Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia! While the jury is still out the role of the police in this entire episode is not beyond doubt. And it is difficult to imagine the police being implicated without their political masters.

However, if the high ranking police officials are to be believer, the extortion business in Mumbai is waning. Sustained and continuous police crackdown and a draconian Act called MCOCA have helped immensely. Now, if a person involved in underworld fires upon someone, the shooter could be jailed for at least 20 years and minimum 10 years, if the victim survives. The distribution of the loot was also an issue which is seeing the gangs losing their grip. Earlier, gangs used to handpick shooters from Dombivli, Konkan, Mangalore, and Azamgarh in UP. The shooters used to carry out audacious attacks for Rs 5,000-10,000. What has always hurt shooters the most is that while the gang leader used to extort crores from the victims, the shooters would only get a few thousands! Perhaps they are now earning the same money or even more by staying on the right side of the law! However, a strong police commissioner and an uncompromising home minister can keep the extortion network in check.

But newer versions of extortion are appearing on the horizon and challenging the law enforcing agencies. Cyber extortion is a relatively new game. Cyber extortionists track people who visit pornographic sites, send their passwords and browser histories back to these people to extort money. Not only the mode of extortion but the profile of extortionist too is changing and now he/she can even be a well read IIT graduate or an MBA looking out for a big fish!

Mumbai is the economic hub of the country and so extortion news from there is more discussed in media. But the rest of the country is not exactly free of extortionists. Bihar during Laloo era saw a spike in extortion and kidnapping for extortion of hefty sums of money became a parallel economy. Doctors, engineers, businessmen, film makers, of Bihar and eastern U.P were the usual victims and protection money was a rule. Politicians were neck deep in the game and appeared like Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hyde! Eastern U.P also had its own share of extortion gangs and a new car or a new house or a shopping mall or even a successful medical practice would all attract their attention.

While Bihar and U.P have come a long way and their dark days of rangdari and kidnapping are well behind them the business is still flourishing in West Bengal. The political parties have historically encouraged a home grown crop of unemployed and often unemployable youth in the business of tolabaji and extortion. They work like mafia, often with tacit support of the police and political masters and if one tries to purchase or sell land or property an untold extortion fee has to be paid to buy peace. Industries avoid going to West Bengal because of the extortion culture and the state has suffered immensely because of this curse.

Delhi and the surrounding areas saw a real estate boom and it became an ideal playground for both official and unofficial extortion. Official extortion is done by authorities from whom one needs permission for every little thing related to construction business. They may not ask for money directly but their grapevine makes you aware of their price and that needs to be paid. The unofficial extortion is carried out by gangs just like Mumbai, but they have more local interests in and around the city.

The gangster culture grew in Punjab after the waning of the Khalistan movement. It got mixed up with drugs and politics to create a dangerous cocktail. Social media was widely used to promote and glorify the gun culture and many youngsters got attracted to it. Sidhu Moosewala, who was an icon for the youth, also glorified gun culture in his songs. He himself succumbed to it. He had faced extortion demands and threats from gangsters, as many other popular singers and artistes have. Extortionists have an ever increasing appetite. First they extorted money, then they started claiming music rights of the artist’s albums, then they wanted their gangs glorified in the songs and finally wanted to abuse the opposite gangs in the same songs! This had to end in a tragedy and it did.

So what is the future of an extortionist? He can form his gang and operate till a bigger alpha extortionist challenges him and dislodges him from his area. This can lead to his elimination or arrest or even absconding from the country. However there are many gangsters who keep on operating uninterrupted even from behind bars or from overseas. Their local network on the ground, their reputation and their fear keeps them functional despite the law……….or, who knows, may be because of the law!

Extortionists from the underworld have a history of becoming strongmen behind successful politicians in the intermediate phase and eventually politicians themselves in order to gain acceptability in the society and immunity from the law. They also open business enterprises, become filmmakers and social activists donned in white clothes to signify wisdom and peace and camouflage their dark past. It doesn’t mean that extortion has stopped or faded away. They are now playing with higher stakes!