The #Marathi movie ‘Pandu Havaldar’ (1975) starring Dada Kondke is a comedy film about a honest, yet bumbling policeman from #Mumbai. But did you know that the city had a real-life brave ‘Pandu Jamadar’ who struck terror in the hearts of criminals?

#history #MumbaiPolice
Read this thread on a legendary detective of the erstwhile #BombayPolice, who cracked a bank robbery which had a Bollywood film producer as a kingpin & involved the infamous Chambal valley, dreaded as the stomping ground of dacoit gangs.
20 April 1951. General Douglas MacArthur was addressing Washington on the Korean crisis. But in this corner of the world, most #Mumbaikars were going around their lives as usual. Even then, a sensational crime was taking place in the city. #Mumbai
On Hornby Road (present-day) D.N Road in South Mumbai’s Fort area, a gang of dacoits stormed Lloyd’s Bank (today’s Standard Chartered bank), and fled with Rs 12 lakh in a hail of bullets. This was a massive amount in those days.
They killed taxi driver Lawrence Quadros, who was waiting in his taxi no BMT 1829 on Bastion Road behind the bank to carry this cash to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) located nearby. Quadros’ funeral had a massive turnout with almost all cab drivers present.
Quadros was the father of A.L Quadros, the chief of the Mumbai Taximens Association, the largest such union of taxi drivers. Pic: A L Quadros (Source: Mid Day).
The #MumbaiPolice crime branch traced the perpetrators of this crime to Delhi. Their leader was Anokhelal, who had produced the film ‘Ek Teri Nishani’ (1949). The stolen cash was recovered from the ravines of the Chambal, the infamous Chambal valley!
This dacoity was investigated by Inspector Hansraj S Ghaie, who later became an ACP and retired in 1969. But, the police team had a legendary officer feared by the underworld. Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Pandurang Sawlaram Sawant from the Crime branch, CID.
Sawant, who joined the force in 1942, had an excellent network of informants in the underworld. He was feared by the city’s criminal underbelly. This helped him crack the Lloyd’s bank dacoity case and crimes like the Bruce Street dacoity (1949), Marol dacoity (1954) & Town Hall
robbery (1955). The usual retort of most police officers, even successive police commissioners of #Mumbai, when confronted with a perplexing case was: Call Sawant. Mind you, then policemen relied on old-fashioned methods of policing like walking their beats. There were no mobiles
& even landlines were a rarity. So, the only way of cultivating sources and contacts was going out and meeting people. Now, technology has made things, including solving crimes, so easier.
His skills earned Sawant the Chief Minister’s gold medal (1957) & police medal (1959). He rose to the rank of a Jamadar or ASI from police constable. Sawant retired in 1979, but the exploits of this Pandu Jamadar passed into legend.
But, the relations between the Sawant family did not end here. His two sons joined the force & retired as ACPs.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Dhaval Kulkarni (धवल कुलकर्णी) 🇮🇳

Dhaval Kulkarni (धवल कुलकर्णी) 🇮🇳 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @dhavalkulkarni

Mar 26
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was among the first political leaders to stress on the need for family planning & birth control.
Thread:
#BabasahebAmbedkar #Dalitmovement #history #DrBabasahebAmbedkar #Ambedkar #JaiBhim
Speaking before a group of students in 1938, Dr Ambedkar stressed that it was the responsibility of both, the husband & wife to ensure family planning. A smaller family would enable better financial planning, ensure that women can maintain their health & help them divert their
energies elsewhere.
In 1938, Prabhakar (P.J) aka Dadasaheb Roham, a legislator from Dr Ambedkar's Independent Labour Party (ILP) tabled a bill in the Bombay legislative council seeking family planning. This was with Dr Ambedkar's support.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 24
There is a craze among the youth in Maharashtra-that of being civil servants. This is growing with time. The only problem is that the number of jobs in the govt & the public sector are shrinking. So, we have a growing number of aspirants vying for a shrinking number of jobs +
via the UPSC and MPSC exams. I am not going into the motives of some of these candidates-is if the genuine desire for public service, or…?
In cities like #Pune, the number of students preparing for the civil services exams is huge. An entire economy has come up around them. This includes people who give their houses on rent, those who run a coaching class, mess or restaurants, study rooms (abhyasikas) etc.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 7
Today, the #MumbaiPolice have a healthy number of #women officers & constables. But do you know that they were drafted into the force due to the prohibition policy? Read this thread on #InternationalWomensDay2023

#WomensDay #InternationalWomensDay #police #Mumbai #Maharashtra ImageImageImage
In 1937, the Bombay Province elected a Congress government under Premier B.G. Kher. In 1939, the government introduced a system of prohibition in Bombay city, with plans to cover the rest of the province later.
#WomensDay #women #InternationalWomensDay2023 #Maharashtra #history Image
A prohibition branch, or ‘X branch’ as it was known, was carved out in the Bombay police. But, despite this, the police discovered that illicit liquor was still available in #Mumbai.
Read 19 tweets
Mar 6
#India has many temples of #LordRam, but Raveri village in #Maharashtra's #Yavatmal district has a temple dedicated to Goddess #Sita. Read the thread on how the local lore about this shrine was harnessed in a unique initiative to #women their rights
#WomensDay #WomensDay2023
This is a temple to Goddess #Sita and not #LordRam, unlike the other shrines where Ram, Sita, Laxman and even Lord Hanuman are worshipped together. Here, the presiding deity is Sita Mata.

#SharadJoshi #ShetkariSanghatana
It is said that when a pregnant Mata #Sita was asked to leave #Ayodhya by #LordRam, she came to Raveri, which is located in in Ralegaon taluka. She was hungry and asked villagers for some grain. But they refused and she cursed them that no wheat would grow there #SharadJoshi
Read 13 tweets
Mar 6
Since January 2023, I have launched a weekly series on @mumbaitak (thanks to @sahiljoshii) where I speak in #Marathi on little-known yet significant episodes from #IndianHistory. This is a thread with the playlists.
Do watch and comment.
#history #trivia #Mumbai #Maharashtra
The first episode with over 2.6 lakh views was on the sensational #TheBawlaMurderCase (1925) which led to the abdication of an Indian king. You can buy my book on this crime here: amzn.eu/d/7WSRPxv



#truecrime #crime #Mumbai #Maharashtra #Books
Did you know that the police stations in #Mumbai, the #MumbaiPolice special branch & crime branch owe their genesis to #LokmanyaBalGangadharTilak? Watch this episode to know more about the bitter-sweet (!)relation between #Tilak and the #MumbaiPolice.

Read 9 tweets
Mar 2
#MahatmaGandhi had a complex relationship with Maharashtra, where his mentor Gopal Krishna Gokhale hailed from.

This thread is about #Gandhi and his relationship with #Marathi (and #Maharashtra)

#thread
#Maharashtra produced some of his staunchest supporters like Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Sitaram ‘Appasaheb’ Patwardhan, who was referred to as the ‘Konkan Gandhi,’ and his most bitter critics, like Dr #BabasahebAmbedkar and V.D. #Savarkar.
Eventually, a man from #Maharashtra--#NathuramGodse, killed #Gandhi.
Read 13 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(