KNIGHT

Note: I have included many Hindi words in this work to add the Mumbai feeling. Their meaning is as follows:

drag maaphiya: Drug Mafia, called like this in Hindi.

hatya: Murder.

muthabhed: Encounter.

mumbee pulis vibhaag: Mumbai Police Department.

kokeen raajadhaanee: Cocaine Capital.

Bhahut accha!: very good.

mujhe yah khel kyon khelana chaahie?: Why should I play this game?

bilkul shuruaat hai: Just the Beginning

Note: This story is inspired from several true incidents, that occurred before few months ago. There is no female lead and romance track, unlike my previous police stories...I used Hindi words to make Mumbai readers familiar...with the story...

The drugs cartel is spreading fast in India with Mumbai emerging as the cocaine capital of the country, according to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). It said the drug mafia is active across several metropolitan cities in India.

The main people involved in supplying these drugs includes two: One gang is Ramesh Singh(accompanied by four people consisting of: Eshwar Reddy, Gopal Sharma, Krishna Lal and Hariharan Singh). The other gang is Narayana Naidu(accompanied by four people: Narasingh Yadav, Ajith Singh, Raghavan Nair and Ranga Reddy.)

Both of these gangs are arch-rivals and dominate Mumbai Drug world for three decades, after Dawood Ibrahim fleed from Mumbai for hide out. Mumbee pulis vibhaag is unable to capture Singh for nearly a decade because not a single person has seen him in person as he is constantly on the move and has no permanent aides or accomplices.

Ramesh Singh meanwhile, heads to Mumbai Port Trust along with his henchman. There, he meets Naidu after learning that he is going to possess the 15,000 kg heroin.(from Line Of Control in Jammu and Kashmir)

Ramesh Singh keeps two ball in the table of Naidu(closed in an envelope.)

"Among these two balls, there are two things: One have Silver standard. Other have gold standard. Choose the gold standard. You win." Ramesh Singh told to Naidu.

"Mujhe yah khel kyon khelana chaahie?" Naidu asked him.

"Choonki(Because) you win, I will leave." Ramesh Singh said to Naidu.

Naidu chooses the other ball. Ramesh Singh opens the ball and shows to Naidu. The ball hasnothing and Ramesh Singh now tells Naidu: "yah main pahale se jaanata tha.(I already knew this) You don't have the capacity to deal with this 15,000 kg heroin."

When one of the henchman of Naidu tries to attack Singh, his henchman Eshwar Reddy kills him by shooting the henchman. Later, Ramesh Singh's henchman finishes off Naidu's henchman: Narasingh Yadav and Ajith Singh to death. As a result, Naidu is forced to return the heroin for Ramesh Singh.

But, he plans to take revenge against Ramesh Singh. They are all waiting for taking revenge against the gang. This is now going to become a big gang war.

Afterwards, Eshwar Reddy gets a call from his trusted henchman: Ravi. He returns back to Ravi and he tells him: "Reddy. I got an information from Gopal Sharma that, George Joseph(from South America) is willing to send 200kg of methamphetamine."

"What's the benefit for us?" Reddy asked him, with a cunning look in his face.

"If we supply this drug with the help of Singh, then we would be getting fifty crores as remuneration. What are you saying?" Ravi asked him.

With a smiling face and a signs of happy look, Reddy replies: "Bhahut accha!! Tell him that, we are ready to supply the drugs." Ravi informs to George. He asks them to get the drugs in the sea port of Daravi.

Meanwhile due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in Mumbai, Maharashtra Government passes a total lockdown. This strikes out out golden opportunity for SP Mahesh Pandey. He forms a team with his police teams consisting of: Commissioner Rajesh Singh, DCP Randeep Gowda and ACP Harshitha Chopra to trap the drug lords of Mumbai. Because, after the lockdown is relieved, they could escape with the help of political leaders, who too are partners in their crimes.

SP Mahesh Pandey forms a meeting with them in his office, where he tells them: "Guys. The world's biggest drug cartel, with base in South America, finds it easy to process cocaine here because India is one of the highest producers of potassium permagnate, a precursor chemical. Besides, the drug enforcement agencies of the US, UK, Canada and Australia have cracked down big time on coca producing countries in South America, resulting in the mafia looking for a country that is safe for them to operate. That safe haven happens to be India."

"Sir. According to the report, about 2,500 kilos of cocaine confiscated in Sri Lanka, Port Elizabeth and Panama in the past two years was headed for India." DCP Randeep Gowda said to him.

"If these drugs are supplied, they could earn maximum of 1000 crores. That's a big amount sir. Recently, the NCB confirmed that about 300kg of cocaine (worth Rs 1500 crore in the international market) landed in Mumbai in December 2018 through a syndicate with links in India, Australia and Canada. The same syndicate was involved in the smuggling of 200kg of methamphetamine from Canada to Australia. The NCB was able to blow the cover off the syndicate after it was found that approximately 200kg of methamphetamine was transported from Canada to Australia using an Indian internet protocol (IP) address. The NCB caught one Akshinder Singh Sodhi of Punjab for operating through the said IP address. They seized 422kg of cocaine from Sodhi." Inspector Harshitha said to SP Mahesh Pandey, showing him a few images through her phone.

"Guys. What can we do now in order to eliminate these drug lords?" SP Mahesh Pandey.

"Let's do muthabhed sir." Harshitha said him.

"Muthabhed!! Oh sir. That's not an easy job. Mumbee pulis vibhaag is unable to capture Singh for nearly a decade because not a single person has seen him in person as he is constantly on the move and has no permanent aides or accomplices. How could we do this mission?" DSP Randeep Gowda expressed his concern.

"Sir. In addition, they are politically supported. If this becomes a political issue, then we would get caught sir." Harshitha said.

"Look. You all told that, Singh's face is unknown. That's even a plus point for us. Henceforth, we could be able to execute this mission successfully." SP Mahesh said. They all seeks exit from the meeting.

Back to the office, DSP Randeep Gowda calls Eshwar Reddy.

"Kahana (Tell) Randeep. What happened?" Eshwar Reddy asked him with a laughable face.

"Paiyaa. SP Mahesh Singh is planning for mutabhed operation. He is planning to eliminate all of your gang alongside Naidu's too. He additionally told, there are two undercover IPS officers in your's gang working for us. But, it was told to me personally. They are leaking several of your gang's informations to him for several months." Randeep Gowda said him, fearfully with his face sweating fully.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Singh meets Ravi in Daravi. Noting that he is the henchman of Eshwar Reddy, he takes his gun to follow him. Fearing, Ravi runs away from the place. He additionally fires at him. But, he barely escaped.

Later, Mahesh meets Ravi in the seashores of Daravi. Both of them stands in gun point and strangles their leg in the sand. Ravi drops his gun and Mahesh laughs for a while.

"How are you sir?" Ravi asked him.

"I am good Nikhil Reddy. How is your mission going?" SP Mahesh said.

"Sir. George Joseph is sending 200kg of methamphetamine to India with the help of Sharma. It's going to be grabbed by Eshwar Reddy. I think it's a golden opportunity for us to do the muthabhed operation sir." Ravi said.

"No Nikhil. Not so easy. Because, our main target is Ramesh Singh. So, we have to wait and then kill them. As you told, from our own department a guy is working for them. He have informed to them...I heard it...that dog is Randeep Gowda. So you should be very very careful." SP Mahesh said.

Afterwards, Nikhil recalls who exactly he is. When he was fourteen years old(2008), his parents were killed in the bomb blasts that ensued in larger parts of Mumbai. From that time, he started to hate the underworld mafia. He studied well and worked hard by joining in an orphanage.

From several people, he got trained in chess games and mind games. Other than this, he physically trained his body by indulging in several like: Swimming, Shooting practices and jogging. Afterwards, he joined the police through UPSC examinations. His patriotic nature and smartness in handling the difficult situations impressed the interviewers.

Henceforth, they posted him in the Crime Branch for one year under the guidance of SP Mahesh Singh. Not only Ravi, there is yet another guy called Arun Krishna. He is Nikhil's close friend in childhood. They both are undercover IPS officers.

They learned that, "these drugs are sent to various places like Sri Lanka, Canada, US, UK, Canada, Pakistan and Australia. Not only for countries. But to states also. Mainly in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. For these, main ports are: Thootukudi, Vishakapatinam and Cochin."

Arun goes under the pseudonym of Malik and works for Krishna Lal. Lal is waiting to transport the 300 kg of Cocaine and is looking for a buyer.

Meanwhile, "A huge cache of cocaine seized in Australia in 2019 had its roots in a syndicate operating from India. Probe showed the drug syndicate had set up several fake companies to facilitate drug movement across India. The NCB conducted raids at several places in UP, Punjab and Delhi and seized 20kg of cocaine. Several Indonesians and Nigerians were arrested.

Similarly, the NCB backtracked a 300kg seizure of cocaine in Mumbai to one Harpal Singh aka Amrinder Chenna aka Laadhi." The drug cocaine is controlled by Naidu. Assuming that this is done by Singh he becomes angered.

Considering this as an Golden opportunity, SP Mahesh Singh plans make the gangs of Naidu and Singh meet each other and in the process, they plans to arrest the duo. However, this plan eventually backfires. Because, Randeep Gowda(who had been assigned by Mahesh) conducts a raid for the trial transaction in the last moment.

This exposes Arun Krishna and he is taken to Lal's place, where Eshwar Reddy and Hariharan Singh also comes. An angry Eshwar Reddy gives shock treatment for Arjun Krishna with the help of electric wires.

"Tell us da. Who is that other undercover IPS officer?" Lal asked him.

He refuses to tell the name and is further tortured. Unable to bear the pain, Krishna eventually reveals Nikhil as the other undercover officer. Left with no options and dejected with the tortures suffered by Krishna, Nikhil turned ruthless and he finishes of Lal, Sharma, Eshwar Reddy, along with his henchman.

Later, Nikhil finds Arun been stabbed in his abdomen.

Emotional, he tells him: "Nanbaa(Friend). Nothing will happen to you da. I am here. Let's go to the hospital."

"Nikhil. Ottu(No) da. We didn't expect this kind of turn in our undercover mission. I additionally know that, I won't survive and die at any time. But didn't expect that, I would die this earlier." Arun Krishna.

Nikhil cried and Arun tells to him, "Nikhil. This is my last wish da. To protect the good, we have to destroy the evil. No battle will ever take place if rage turns into compassion. Complete this mission da. Orelse, many student's life would get spoiled."

After getting the promise, he dies in his arms. Afterwards of this, Nikhil eliminates Naidu's gang by doing the muthabhed.

Now, Ramesh Singh is aware of the death of his gang members as well as his nemesis Naidu's death. He decides to bring Nikhil into his custody using his political influences and police department. In the process, Mahesh Singh also gets killed by Randeep.

With Harshitha been left helpless and left as an one-man army in this mission, Nikhil runs for his life on one hand. On the other hand, he plans to play a final game with Ramesh Singh face to face. As Nikhil is the only survivor of the shootout at Reddy's place, Ramesh Singh decides to test his efficiency by playing the same game, which he had done with Naidu.

Without showing his face, Ramesh Singh shows two balls to Nikhil in the phone and tells him: "Among these two balls, there are two things: One have Silver standard. Other have gold standard. Choose the gold standard. You win."

"You know, why are you winning in this game. Because, you know about the role of Gold and Silver standard. In Gold standard, the purchasing power of a unit of money is maintained equal to the value of a fixed weight of Gold. When we take into the accounts of Silver Standard, it is a monetary arrangement in which a country's government allows conversion of it's currency into fixed amount of Silver. Senseless guy would choose the first ball thinking it to be having Gold standard. But, there won't be anything. Brilliant guy would choose the other ball, thinking it to be having Gold Standards. Intelligent guy, that means me, would neither choose Gold nor the Silver standard. If I choose this ball as Gold, you would show this to have nothing. If I choose that ball to have Gold, you would show the ball to be having silver standard." Nikhil said.

Ramesh Singh is impressed that, for the first time, a guy have smartly won this mind games tricks. He henceforth, assigns him as his henchman.

Nikhil is brought to Ramesh for the first time and is also able to cleverly convince him with a cover up story. But only up to an extent. To Ramesh, he tells that Naidu was the one responsible for the raid, that occurred a few days before. Then, he fabricates further that, Naidu was killed by him as an act of self-defense after he tried to kill him a few days back.

Soon, Ramesh is brought back to Jawaharlal Nehru Port. When Nikhil waits for the opportunity to gun him down, Ramesh's henchman beats him up. Then, Ramesh tells him: "You're not that smart da. Do you think how did I caught you? Criminals would always leave a trace out about their profession. Likewise only you got caught. I asked my men to check the place of Reddy's ground. There only, your Police ID card got caught. That's why, we assassinated Mahesh Singh with the help of Randeep Gowda."

Nikhil is beaten up severely and when about to get killed, he gains upper hand and kills Singh's henchman. Afterwards of this, he muthabheds Ramesh Singh brutally to death. After his death, he kills Randeep Gowda for the act of betrayal.

The rest of Naidu and Singh's gang consisting of: Hariharan Singh, Ranga Reddy and Raghavan Nair are encountered by Harshitha in a secluded place, after been arrested in the mission of seizing the 900 of Heroin.

Two months later, Nikhil goes to meet the New SP Harichandra Prasad. He have called him for an important meeting. Harshitha also have come to the place for the meeting.

Nikhil comes and salutes him.

"Come Nikhil. Take your seats." Harichandran said.

"May I know why is this meeting sir?" Harshitha asked him.

"We know that Mumbai is fast emerging ad Cocaine Capital of India. We just now, eliminated the gangs of Naidu and Ramesh Singh. But, as per NCB reports, there are hundreds of Drug kingpin in India. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), for the first time, is preparing a list of the top 100 drug mafia kingpins in India to initiate action against them under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act. According to home ministry and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials, the idea is to bust the chain of distribution at the top, for which all zonal directors have been asked to send names of the top drug lord mafias. Special focus is being given to cocaine suppliers in Mumbai, given its rampant usage in the city, especially the film industry. This decision to crack down on the drug mafias comes after an increase in heroin trafficking was noticed across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir." Harichandra Prasad said to them.

"The drug menace is huge in India with the country also being the number 2 supplier of drug precursors in the world. The time has come to take direct action against drug lords in India rather than chasing fixers and abusers." Harshitha and Nikhil said to him.

"India consumes nearly 1 tonne of heroin everyday which is worth more than Rs 100 crore. While countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan remain the main suppliers to India, the trade in the country is controlled by the Israeli, Russian, Italian and Nigerian mafia. There are political supports too in this " SP Harichandra Prasad tells them with a guilt consciousness.

"Nikhil. You should again go undercover in order to eliminate those 100 mafia leaders." SP Harichandra Prasad tells him.

"Ok sir. I would do as per your instructions." Nikhil said.

"I hope, you won't be meeting with any troubles in this mission." SP Harichandra said.

"No sir. I hope I won't meet such things. Because, it's bilkul shuruaat hai." Nikhil said and proceeds to go for his next undercover mission, while Harshitha and Harichandran sits in the chair, looking at some files.

(MISSION CONTINUES...)