Mumbai: The son of Jenabai Darvesh, an influential figure in the erstwhile Mumbai underworld, was found murdered at his Mohamed Ali Road residence on Saturday evening.
According to the Pydhonie police, Iqbal Darvesh (72) was found lying on the floor bound and gagged, by his grandson Salman (26) at his residence in Israeli Mohalla. Salman took him to J.J. Hospital where he was declared dead before admission.
The police said while the cause of death is not clear, Iqbal had marks on his body consistent with being beaten repeatedly. “We have teams working on the case, and are trying to find a motive,” said Dnyaneshwar Chavan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone II.
The Pydhonie police have registered a case of murder against unknown persons.
Known by a host of names, including Jenabai Daruwali, Jena Maasi, Jena Aapa and Jena Khabri, Iqbal’s mother was a freedom fighter. After the Partition, her husband left her to go to Pakistan, leaving her with five children to raise on her own, after which she turned to crime in the early 1950s. Jenabai got involved in the liquor smuggling rackets, and through some of her contacts, became acquainted with Varadarajan Mudaliar, who, in turn, introduced her to Haji Mastan, the top don in the 1960s. Her racket flourished under his patronage and she soon earned the sobriquet of Jenabai Daruwali. Her influence in Mohammed Ali Road grew, and she started settling disputes among residents and then among gangsters, thus first becoming Jena Aapa or elder sister, and then Jena Maasi or ‘auntie’.
One of Jenabai’s most famous feats, officers agree, was to bring about a truce between Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, himself a fledgeling in those days, and the Pathans led by Karim Lala, putting an end to almost daily instances of bloodshed in the streets. The truce lasted till the Pathans, with the help of Manohar alias Manya Surve, killed Dawood’s brother Sabir in 1981.
Jenabai also turned informer for the police around the same time that she started settling disputes, and a lot of retired policemen remember her as Jena Khabri. Amma , a Hindi serial on Zee TV, is based on her life, with Urvashi Sharma playing Jenabai in her younger days and Shabana Azmi playing the role of an older Jenabai.
