Murder most foul, as in the best it is. But this most foul, strange and unnatural. –William Shakespeare, Hamlet

On 12 January 1925, Abdul Kader Bawla, a businessman and corporator in the Bombay Municipal Corporation, was murdered while on a drive at Malabar Hill in Mumbai and an attempt was made to kidnap his companion Mumtaz Begum. However, Mumtaz was saved by the fortuitous arrival of four officers from the British Army, who despite being unarmed and outnumbered, fought off the eight assailants and saved Mumtaz. More significantly, they managed to capture one of the murders. Eventually, the case, which had captured media and public attention, led to the abdication of Maharaja Tukojirao Holkar-III of Indore.

But this is not just another true crime. The case and its backstory involves personalities of the day like Dr B.R Ambedkar, Chhatrapati Shahu of Kolhapur, M.A Jinnah, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his elder brother Ganesh aka Babarao, and the Shankaracharya. Mumtaz later went to Hollywood to try her luck in the film industry. A silent movie on the Bawla case was also produced in Bollywood.

Read on to know more about this crime and its intersection with the various social and political realities of colonial India.

Of course, you can also buy my book 'The Bawla Murder Case: Love, Lust and Crime in Colonial India' at () or from an indie book store.

#history #heritage #colonialIndia #truecrime #crime #Mumbai #Bombay #police #policehistory #PrincelyIndia #Maharashtra #Indore #MadhyaPradesh #Book #books #movies #Hollywood #Bollywood

On 12 January 1925, twenty-five year old Abdul Kader Bawla, a businessman and corporator in the Bombay Municipal Corporation from Mandvi in south Mumbai. Bawla was a landlord and textile-mill owner, and was considered one of the richest men in Bombay. He belonged to the mercantile Kutchi Memon community and was the grandson of philanthropist Haji Saboo Siddik.

Near the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill, a Red Maxwell car hit Bawla’s Studebaker on the rear. It blocked Bawla’s car and around seven to eight people alighted from the Red Maxwell, showered abuse on Bawla and demanded that he hand over Mumtaz. They fired at Bawla from the left, where Mumtaz was sitting. Another assailant seized Mumtaz and she screamed.amzn.eu/d/79k8tPK


Lieutenant John MacLean Saegert, an officer in the British Army’s Engineers, Sappers and Miners, and his friends, Colonel C.E. Vickery, and lieutenants Francis Batley and Maxwell Stephen had played golf at the Willingdon Sports Club near Mahalaxmi Race Course.

At around 7.30 p.m., they left the club to visit the Taj Mahal Hotel at Apollo Bunder. On their way to the hotel, Saegert, who was driving and was unfamiliar with the area, arrived at Kemps Corner and took a wrong turn, driving up Malabar Hill via Gibbs Road instead of taking the lower Hughes Road to their intended destination.

When they reached the top of the Malabar hill, they saw two other cars on the right side of the road. When they were around thirty yards away, the European officers saw some men get down from the car in the front, followed by flashes of a pistol and then loud screams from the second car.

On hearing the screams, Saegert stopped the car. The officers, who were unarmed and in civilian clothes, got out and ran towards them. Three men were threatening a woman with knives. The woman, who was Mumtaz, had already been injured on the forehead and was being dragged out of the car

Despite being unarmed and outnumbered, the Army men put up a fight straight out of a Bollywood flick. Saegert was shot at and stabbed by the assailants multiple times. Lieutenant Batley attacked the shooters with a golf club, which was the only weapon available to the officers in the melee. Batley was also fired at by an assailant, but escaped unhurt. The army men overpowered an assailant, who was armed with a pistol and jackknife and was grappling with Saegert. As residents of the neighbourhood appeared on the scene, the other attackers fled.

Bawla succumbed to his injuries at the J.J. Hospital. Bawla had a fortune of Rs 40 lakh. He willed it to his widowed mother Rukhiabai in his dying declaration, leaving Mumtaz Rs 1 lakh, which was a princely sum in those days.

The crime sent ripples across the country as Bawla was one of the leading public men of the day. The Bawla murder case was also mentioned in the British Parliament. The European officers were lauded for their bravery.

Just one day after the attempted abduction of Mumtaz Begum and murder of Abdul Kadar Bawla, the police had realized this was not just another street crime or holdup. Patrick Kelly (later Sir), commissioner of police, Bombay wrote to the secretary, Government of Bombay, Home Department, about evidence pointing to a conspiracy being hatched or instigated in one of India’s most prominent princely states.

Kelly, who was one of Bombay’s longest-serving police commissioners, said the girl Mumtaz ‘was in the keeping of the Maharaja of Indore for a few years’. Mumtaz had left the royal in April 1924, and had been ‘kept’ by Bawla

Kelly said that the inspector general of police, Indore, sent his assistant to him around two months ago, with a request for copies of certain statements recorded by the Bombay police in an enquiry once made by them regarding Mumtaz. The commissioner added that he had refused to supply the copies and that any demand for papers of this sort should be made by the political agent of Indore to the Government of Bombay

A short while ago, Mumtaz’s sister had written to her from Amritsar that the Indore authorities were collecting wrestlers to abduct her to Indore. Bawla himself was said to have received threatening letters.

Investigations revealed that Shafi Ahmed Nabi Ahmed, who had been nabbed by the European army officers at Malabar Hill, was a risaldar in the Indore Mounted Police. Initially, he had denied his guilt and claimed to be an innocent pedestrian proceeding on his way when he was caught in the fray.

But the most daunting challenge for the Bombay police team was that although the crime had taken place in British Indian territory, the conspiracy was hatched in Indore. However, the investigators overcame this hurdle by their dexterity. Despite the odds stacked against them, the investigation by the Bombay police unearthed that most of the suspects on their radar were senior officials of the Indore durbar

Eventually, they arrested Pushpasheel Balwantrao Ponde (twenty-three), a Mankari from Indore; Captain Shamrao Rewaji Dighe (twenty-eight) from the Indore State Air Force; Akbarshah Mahomedshah (twenty-three), huzrya (valet) in the household department, Indore; Mumtaz Mahomed Syed Mahomed (twenty-five), sub-inspector, CID, Indore; Karamatkhan Nizamatkhan (twenty-eight), pay sergeant, Holkar mounted escort, Indore; Abdul Latif Moyuddin (twentyfive), motor driver, Indore; and Bahadurshah Mahomedshah (twenty), motor driver, Indore. It was believed that they were involved in the shooting. Later, Major General Sardar ‘Dilerjang’ Anandrao Gangaram Phanse, aged thirty-two, the adjutant-general of the Indore State Forces was also arrested.

Mumtaz was born in 1903 in a family of Punjabi Muslim courtesans. Her grandmother Karimbibi was said to be in the harem of Maharaja Ranjitsinh of Punjab. In 1911-12, Mumtaz’s mother Wazir Begum took her to Indore and the mother-daughter duo performed for the rich and famous in the town. Soon, they came in touch with Shankarrao Gawde, the major domo of Maharaja Tukojirao-
III. Soon, Mumtaz became the Maharaja’s mistress.

In April 1919, Mumtaz and her mother travelled with the Holkar family to Bombay. Tukojirao-III is said to have offered to marry Mumtaz by having her convert to Hinduism. However, this offer was rebuffed. The next day, Mumtaz was taken away from her mother on the pretext of watching a movie and was sent to Indore instead without her mother’s knowledge or consent.

Wazir Begum lodged a complaint about her daughter’s abduction with the Bombay Police, but the case was eventually dropped as there was no documentary evidence about Mumtaz being a minor. Mumtaz stayed on in Indore with a status equal to the two Maharanis and was also known as Kamalabai. In 1924, a girl was born to Mumtaz in Indore. The nurses claimed that the child had died later. Mumtaz alleged that the child had been killed by the nurses.

Finally, Mumtaz, her mother and step-father Mahomed Ali fled the custody of the officials of the Indore durbar as they were heading to Mussorie from Bhanpura. They arrived in Bombay and Mumtaz began performing again. It was then that she came in touch with Bawla and became his mistress. After a tiff with her parents, Mumtaz moved in with Bawla and began staying with his family at their sea-facing residence near the Girgaum Chowpatty. Mumtaz was finally putting the turbulence of the past behind her and settling down with Bawla when the shots rang out on that fateful day on Malabar Hill.

This is a long thread on the #restaurants I have eaten in 2023. This covers #Mumbai, #Delhi and #Pune.

#Food #food #MumbaiFood #Pune #PuneFood #Mumbai #Delhi #DelhiFood #eatingout #khaugiri #khawayya #hotel #hotels #foodscene

Hotel Gomantak Yashwantashram:

No frills joint located bang outside the Grant Road (West) railway station. Good place for coastal food Moti Mahal Restaurant, Dariyaganj, New Delhi

The place where butter chicken is said to have originated. The butter chicken you get here is different from the 'tandoori chicken shreds served in oily gravy' stuff that is served elsewhere. Try the brain curry and kababs too...

Must visit

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Even today, there is no clarity over whether that silly "rule" which was cited as the basis for the denial has been rolled back.

Thread

#Marathi #Maharashtra #MarathiIdentity #Marathipan One must note that while the liberal intelligentsia is quick on its feet to denounce any expression of nativist, pro-Marathi sentiment in Mumbai, they often ignore similar regional and linguistic chauvinism, sub-nationalism and xenophobia in their own states. They also fail to acknowledge that opportunities are often secured through networks linked to caste, linguistic and regional identities with merit per se taking a back seat.

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Anyone denying this reality are living under a rock, or perhaps, they are THE rock.

Malabar Hill is the most prestigious & well-guarded neighbourhood in Mumbai. It houses ministers, bureaucrats & the elite. The Raj Bhavan is also located here. In the 1970s, there was a robbery in Raj Bhavan, that too from the Governor's bedroom! #thread #MumbaiPolice #history





Nawab Ali Yavar Jung was the Governor of Maharashtra from 1970-76. Then, the Governor used to stay in Pune during the monsoons.

The latest episode of #Maharashtra’s Game of Thrones saw #AjitPawar split the #NCP & become the deputy chief minister. Let us analyse the impact on the major players in the game
#SharadPawar #MaharashtraPolitics #NCPSplits #politics #BJP #ShivSena #DevendraFadnavis #EknathShinde Eknath Shinde:

The ruling coalition in Maharashtra is now dealing with a problem of plenty. It now includes three parties, the #BJP, chief minister #EknathShinde’s #ShivSena, and now #AjitPawar and his men from the #NCP.

#Hindutva zealots like #SambhajiBhide claim that #MahatmaGandhi's last fast in January 1948 was meant to force India to pay #Rs55crore to #Pakistan. It is also claimed that Gandhi indulged in #Muslim appeasement, but what is the reality?
#thread #history #Gandhi #NathuramGodse The fast was a moral form of protest to ensure communal amity and cessation of hostilities between Hindus and Muslims in India. Gandhi also wanted to ensure the safety of the Hindu and Sikh minorities in Pakistan.

Heard #SambhajiBhide's unhinged rant against #MahatmaGandhi & #MahatmaJotibaPhule. Bhide claims that Gandhi and Phule were anti #Hindu & were given the 'Mahatma' title by the Christ Seva Sangh from Sweden. This thread is meant to set the record straight
#history



It was in a function on 11 May 1888 in the Koliwada hall at Mandvi in #Mumbai that the masses conferred the 'Mahatma' title on #Phule to honour him for his selfless service.
#JotiraoPhule

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4.5/5

The #ShivSena was launched on 19 June 1966 by #BalThackeray. Its initial targets were #SouthIndians. The genesis of the Sena had its roots in a similar anti-South Indian campaign by his father #PrabodhankarThackeray in 1922 Thread:
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#crime #truecrime #murdermysteries 2 February 1971. The neighbours of Darabshah Sethna (82), a resident of Jehangir Mansion, near Metro Cinema at Dhobi Talao in #Mumbai were intrigued. The main door of his 5th floor was locked, which was unprecedented as the family never went out together.

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Thread
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So, we had dinner at the Folk at Kalaghoda in Mumbai. It’s a quaint place. Thread:

#food #Mumbai Mutton Galauti kabab

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#electricity

Till date, I have been unable to understand the adulatory reports about flats & penthouses in #Mumbai being sold for astronomical sums. How many people as a % of population can afford to buy them? The vast majority of people stay in far-flung areas like Vashind, Karjat etc & spend half their lives commuting in local trains. Their ambitions & lives remain unconsummated thanks to this soul & body sucking commute. Their mental health too goes for a toss. Observe how people are willing to jump at each other in trains for the most trivial reason.