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{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
'''Gopal Rajwani''' (died 25 January 2000)
was a criminal-politician with the [[Shiv Sena]] party, from [[Ulhasnagar]], [[Maharashtra]] (a suburb of [[Mumbai]]). Formerly associated with the ganglord [[Dawood Ibrahim]],<ref name=murder>
{{cite news
|title = Sena leader Gopal Rajwani shot dead
|author = Jake Khan, Ulhasnagar
|publisher = [[India Abroad]]
|url = http://www.indiaabroad.com/news/2000/jan/25jake.htm
|archive-url = https://archive.today/20120909161438/http://www.indiaabroad.com/news/2000/jan/25jake.htm
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 2012-09-09
|date = 2000-01-25
|access-date = 2007-05-27
|location = Ulhasnagar
}}</ref> he joined the [[Shiv Sena]] in 1996. He was killed when he was appearing in a court case at Ulhasnagar on January 2000.

==Life==
Rajwani began his life selling [[papadum]]s in Ulhasnagar. At one point, he met gangster Govind Vachani and rose rapidly in the crime world.<ref name="pelf">
{{cite news
| title = Three Ps rule Ulhas: Pelf, Politicians & Pappu
| author = Yogesh Pawar
| publisher = [[Indian Express]]
| url = http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19990303/ige03076p.html
| date = 1999-03-03
| accessdate = 2007-05-24
}}</ref> He later joined the criminal-politician [[Pappu Kalani]] and was arrested in 1982–83 for the murder of the editor A V Narayan of ''[[Blitz (newspaper)|Blitz]]'' magazine.<ref name=murder/><ref name=pelf/>
The case could not be sustained, as no witnesses came forward to testify and he was acquitted.

In 1985, he fell out with Kalani over division of extortion money.<ref name=murder/> Meanwhile, Pappu Kalani had become politically powerful with the [[Indian National Congress]] party – he was to be elected from Ulhasnagar the following
year.<ref name=kuber>
{{cite news
| title = Pappu's Ulhasnagar gambit may backfire
| author = Girish Kuber
| publisher = [[The Economic Times]]
| url = http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Pappus_Ulhasnagar_gambit_may_backfire/articleshow/msid-1102026,curpg-2.cms
| date = 2007-01-09
| accessdate = 2007-05-24
}}</ref>
That April, Rajwani was arrested in an extortion case, apparently at Kalani's bidding. As Rajwani was being escorted to the [[Vithalwadi]] police station in a rickshaw, Kalani arranged for his men to attack him with bombs and guns.<ref name=murder/> Rajwani survived the attack, but was seriously injured<ref name=murder/> and was admitted to the [[JJ Hospital]]. Here, he met [[Haji Mastan]], a notorious smuggler and senior don of that time. Haji Mastan took Rajwani under his wings and arranged for him to go to [[Dubai]].

In Dubai, he met [[Dawood Ibrahim]] and began helping him buy real estate in Mumbai. Among the properties he negotiated was a flat in [[Lokhandwala Complex]], which was to be the scene of a famous shootout where the "encounter" specialist (Policeman known for killing off gangsters)
[[Aftaab Ahmed Khan]] gunned down six of Dawood's aides including [[Maya Dolas]].<ref name=indexp>
{{cite news
|title="Mr Controversy" seeks a clean ticket
|author=S Hussain Zaidi
|work=[[Indian Express]]|url=http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19980205/03650824.html
|date=1998-02-05
|accessdate=2007-05-23
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604232950/http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19980205/03650824.html
|archivedate=2007-06-04
}}</ref> Much of the fourteen-hour encounter was televised live and made
Khan a celebrity.

In April 1989, the Kalani family leader, Pappu's uncle Dudhichand Kalani, was murdered, allegedly by Gopal Rajwani's gang,<ref>
{{cite web
|title=Suresh alias Pappu Bhudharmal Kalani v. State of Maharashtra
|author=Justices K.T. Thomas & D.P. Mohapatra
|publisher=[[Supreme Court of India]]
|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/~andrew/CommonLII/INSC/2001/140.html
|date=2 March 2001
|accessdate=2007-05-30
}}{{dead link|date=March 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> at the
instance of Gop Behrani.<ref name=pelf/> This led to reprisal killings – as many as 22 murders in five months. It was said during this period that "there would be a killing in Ulhasnagar every Tuesday."<ref name=kuber/>
It was during this period that Pappu Kalani emerged as the leader of his own organized crime gang.

In 1992, [[Pappu Kalani]] was arrested for the murder of Rajwani henchman Maruthi Jadhav<ref>
{{cite news
|title = Pappu Kalani is free: bluster intact, not his base
|author = Tanushree Chakraborty
|publisher = [[Indian Express]]
|url = http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie20010906/top6.html
|date = 6 September 2001
|accessdate = 2007-05-24
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125755/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie20010906/top6.html
|archivedate = 29 September 2007
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> (and subsequently charged in seven other murders). Pappu was in jail for nine years, and in this period, Rajwani then returned to Ulhasnagar. He joined the [[Shiv Sena]] in 1995, and emerged as a top leader of the party in Ulhasnagar.

On 24 January 2000, around 11 AM, he was getting off from his car to attend court at the First Class Magistrate's court in Ulhasnagar, when he was attacked by four gunmen, and died of injuries in the head, chest, neck and back.<ref name=murder/>

It is widely believed that [[Pappu Kalani]], recently elected [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] from Ulhasnagar, although in jail at the time, had masterminded his murder.<ref name=murder/>

==References==
<references/>
{{Organised crime in India}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajwani, Gopal}}
[[Category:Indian gangsters]]
[[Category:Murdered Indian gangsters]]
[[Category:D-Company]]
[[Category:Indian politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Ulhasnagar]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:People murdered in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Maharashtra politicians]]
[[Category:Shiv Sena politicians]]

Gopal Rajwani - Revision history

->Rlink2 at 21:55, 4 December 2021