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The Rediff Special/Jake Khan

The blood-thirsty criminal

Jake Khan in Bombay

He is one of the most lethal killing machines ever arrested by the Bombay police. One has heard of blood-curdling crimes, but this is the first criminal that the city police has come across who is actually blood-thirsty in the real sense: he prefers to mix his rice with blood the way an average Indian relishes rice with curry.

Meet Venkatesh Bagga Reddy alias Baba Reddy alias Aziz Reddy

A self-proclaimed devotee of Kali, Reddy likes to drink blood and eat raw meat. And if he is unable to get animal's blood, he cuts himself up, mixes his blood with rice and devours the gory mixture, claim police sources. And unlike other criminals in the underworld who wear their secular credentials on their shirtsleeves, Reddy has no qualms in admitting that he is staunchly communal.

Reddy was arrested by the Special Operations Squad of the Bombay crime branch on July 26 along with five of his associates. The regular constabulary was no match for the ferocity of the 28-year-old Reddy, necessitating the use of a dozen Kalashnikov-wielding SOS commandos to overpower him.

Crime branch detectives suspect that Reddy must be involved in over 20 murders, although they are confident of securing a conviction only in six. Reddy is the key accused in the killings of builder Azmat Patel at Kashmira, Scandal Shoes managing director Haji Kapadia at Bandra, Shiv Sena leader Manohar Jingare, gang-lord and Chhota Shakeel aide Babu Dadi at Parel, politicians Parshuram Chavan at Wadala, Wadia hospital wardboy and alleged hafta collector for the Manchekar gang Ashok Pardesi and college boy Bhushan Patil at Thane.

Originally from Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy is a class IX dropout. He started off as a welding transformer engineer in Mushirabad. However, one Hajibhai chose him as bodyguard and brought him to Bombay in 1989, and got him a job at a beer bar in Mulund, in the central suburbs.

Reddy's first brush with the underworld took place when he met Dimple Dada at a Chembur bar who was impressed by his physique and exhorted him to take to the trade. Reddy thus joined Dimple Dada's gang, and his first assignment was to kidnap an industrialist's son from a Bandra school for which he was promised Rs 100,000 after the job. However, Reddy could not execute the job and had to flee to Hyderabad.

During the communal riots in 1992-93, Reddy killed several Muslims and injured even more, for which he was arrested by the police. After being released on bail in September 1993, Reddy returned to Bombay once again. Jobless and homeless, he knew nothing except serving in shady beer bars, and in little time found employment in a shady bar in Mulund, in the central suburbs, a haven for the criminals. Here he was exposed to several gangsters, including Sanjay Ghati and Viju Shetty of the Chhota Rajan gang. His strong build and menacing presence caught their eye, and they enrolled him in their nefarious activities.

For blood-thirsty Reddy, spilling blood was a sport, say the police. He began killing people and gained a reputation for ferocity in the underworld circles. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police, crime, Pradeep Sawant, "Reddy became the highest paid contract killer, commanding the most coveted perks in gangland. Reddy was paid Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 per job. Moreover, he used to make extra money through extortion as well."

However, all this could not keep Reddy contented for long, and he was drawn to temples and the like. He began visiting religious shrines in the city, including the Sitladevi temple at Mahim. During one such visit to the temple in February, Reddy spotted a girl outside the temple who seemed lost in her own world and walking briskly. The girl's detachment from her surroundings attracted Reddy towards her and he followed her to the Makhdoom Saha Dargah at Mahim.

He discovered that the girl was a Muslim named Shahnaaz. After pursuing her for some time, he finally bared his heart to her in March. Shahnaaz put forth a condition that she would marry him only if he agreed to become a Muslim, and thus it was that Reddy became Aziz -- after which the two got married.

"In the end it turned out that Reddy was a big fraud. He claimed to be communal but readily became a Muslim. He was supposed to be deadly, but I found him as submissive and docile as any other petty criminal," observed ACP Sawant, who interrogated Reddy and despatched commandos to arrest him from Kurla.

Perhaps he shrewdly cultivated the ferocious image to carve a niche in the underworld, aver police officers. However, despite such doubts, in the crime branch lock-up Reddy is given raw chicken meat for 'softening', and other undertrials refuse to share his cell for fear that he will drink their blood.

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