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Investigators link Andheri shootout to 'sexport'

S Hussain in Bombay

The Bombay police have found that the shootout last month at Andheri in which one person was killed and another was injured was linked to a 'sexport' scandal involving some politicians and senior police officers.

Around 8.30 pm on September 1, two unidentified assailants began chasing a rickshaw carrying two persons - Jagdish Panchal, an orchestra organiser and his friend Arun More at Andheri in suburban Bombay. The duo, who were in another three-wheeler, intercepted the rickshaw carrying Panchal and More near Model Town and opened indiscriminate fire. While More died on the way to a hospital, Panchal escaped with minor bullet injuries.

The shootout after a lull of over a month had baffled the police and the question uppermost in everybody's mind was why would anybody want to kill an orchestra organiser? And as a special team busied itself in finding the answer, a story of sex, sleaze and sinister underworld plots began to unfold.

Panchal used to take dancing troops to the Gulf countries to entertain rich Indian expatriates and a select Arab clientele since late eighties. However, in the recent years, after Bollywood stars began doing stage shows and performing at marriages, Panchal's business had slumped.

Desperate to revive his sagging profits Panchal hit upon the idea of enlisting the services of starlets and nautch girls, who were interested in business beyond dancing. In short, Panchal graduated from organising stage shows to pimping.

The business was good and soon Panchal was raking in huge profits. However, as the word of his success spread, more people entered the trade. Once again with increased competition Panchal's profits began sagging. He began finding it increasingly difficult to employ good-looking girls who now preferred to work for his competitors. The deluge of Russian street-walkers in Dubai added to Panchal's woes.

The hunt for fresh faces brought Panchal to Bombay's dancing bars which are famous for attracting young and good-looking girls. These girls make anything between Rs 10,000 and 50,000 every night. Panchal told them they could make four times that in the middle-east if they looked beyond dancing.

Soon several girls joined him and Panchal was back into business. As business boomed Panchal created catalogues that displayed the girls and the services they offered in detail. These catalogues came in three categories - 'X', 'XX' and 'XXX'.

''Panchal had albums of girls showing them in a various erotic postures. These pictures were shown to the Arabs who then took their pick,'' says Additional Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria.

But Panchal's booming business had an unlikey fallout that he had not bargained for and that nearly cost him his life. As more and more girls began doing trips of the middle-east countries with Panchal, their absence began showing in dance bars in Mumbai. Customers began to complain and business dropped sharply.

''All the bar owners then came together and decided to tackle Panchal their own way. A supari of Rs 1 million was floated for Panchal and the Bahrain-based gangster, Ali Budesh, accepted the offer,'' said an officer from the special squad of north-west region.

In his statement to the police from his hospital bed, Panchal had reportedly named several politicians and senior police officers who were on his customer list.

Panchal is likely to disclose more about his 'sexport' business once he recovers and is discharged from the hospital.

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