Organised crime in India

Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is due to several socio-economic and political factors and advances in science and technology. There is no firm data to indicate the number of organised criminal gangs operating in the country, their membership, their modus operandi, and the areas of their operations. Their structure and leadership patterns may not strictly fall in line with the classical Italian mafia. Mumbai, Maharashtra is both the biggest city in and financial capital of India. Over a period of time, the Mumbai underworld has been dominated by several different groups and mobsters. The powerful trio of Haji Mastan, Varadarajan Mudaliar, and Karim Lala enjoyed backing from their communities. Haji Mastan, originally known as Mastan Haider Mirza, was a Bombay-based Tamil Muslim mobster who became the first celebrity gangster in the city of Bombay. Born in 1926 in a Tamil family in Pannaikulam, near Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu. At age 8, moved to Bombay with his father. The father-son duo ran a small cycle repair shop in Crawford market. 10 years later, in 1944, Mastan joined the Bombay docks as a porter and from there entered organised crime. He worked in association with Karim Lala and by the 1960s became a rich man. He amassed millions from smuggling gold, silver, and electronic goods and expanded his clout in the film industry by investing his money with directors and studios in Bollywood film production. As Mastan's influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films himself and was a well-known producer. Varadarajan Mudaliar (born Varadarajan Mudaliar), popularly known as Vardha Bhai, was a Bombay-based ethnic Tamil Hindu mafia mobster. He came to be known as Vardhabhai, operated from the early 1960s to 1980, and was accorded equal clout to Haji Mastan and Karim Lala.