Friday's attack took place at about 7:45 in the morning, before the main rush hour in the city had begun, so casualties were not as severe as they could have been. The building, known as Kawish Crown Plaza, like many others on the same stretch of road, was constructed in violation of building rules, but no action has been taken against it as it was built by the don of all dons, Dawood Ibrahim, a kingpin in the underworld across South Asia and beyond.
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Chota Rajan was once a part of Dawood's team, but they parted company in acrimonious circumstances several years ago over Chota Rajan's attempts to muscle into Dawood's control over much of Bollywood in Mumbai. It is a virtual open secret that India's external intelligence outfit, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), has cultivated Chota Rajan against Dawood.
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While Chota Rajan was been nurtured by RAW, Dawood has managed to use Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to his advantage for operations in India. Chota Rajan is believed even to draw financial support from RAW, while Dawood generates his own resources through his illegal businesses, such as gambling dens in South Africa, Bangkok, Dubai and Mumbai. At the same time he has established very powerful crime syndicates in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Nepal, India and Pakistan. These syndicates are his real strength and keep him ahead of other underworld leaders.
Asia Times July 16, 2003
