Since phone calls of most gangsters are under surveillance, they use code-language to communicate with their gang members, said a senior police officer.
“Main daane se bhara hua moza bhej raha hoon, joota pehenna seekh lena.” If you think this conversation is related to shoes, think again. This is code language for a shooter to practise on a fully-loaded weapon that has been delivered to him.
Since phone calls of most gangsters are under surveillance, they use code-language to communicate with their gang members, said a senior police officer.
However, these code words came under the scanner of the crime branch of the Mumbai police when they arrested a few members of the Kumar Pillai gang.
One Vinod Ghogle and his four associates — Sanjeeth Shetty, Mahesh Kalingan, Umesh Pujari and Santosh Shinde — were arrested recently.
According to crime branch sources, the gang was controlled by one Prasad Pujari, a close aide of Pillai. He is believed to be hiding in some south-east Asian country.
“Shetty revealed some of the code words they use,” said a crime branch officer. “The gang calls a weapon a joota (shoe), the magazine is called moja (socks), and bullets or cartridges are called as dana or ungli (seeds or fingers).” Normally the term dana is used for narcotics, the officer said.
According to the police, Shetty was not a professional shooter.
“Pujari was supposed to send a man to train him to use weapon on November 4, 2009,” the crime branch officer said, adding, “but the person could not make it. Shetty took instruction from Pujari over the phone.”
On November 9, Shetty barged into the Vikhroli office of builder Ramesh Shetty. He drew his gun but could not fire as it got jammed. He then broke some window panes and fled.
Pujari then instructed Shetty to start practising. “He told Shetty ‘builder aaye toh dana chhod dena, lekin usse pehle train ke toilet mein jaake moza khaali karma seekh le’,” said the officer.
Translated, this means: shoot the builder when he arrives, but before that start practising inside the toilet of a train.
However, Shetty wanted a more secure place to practice. Prasad then told him to go to the mangroves near the Eastern Express Highway.
On November 10, 2009, Shetty went to the office another builder at Kanjurmarg and fired four rounds, the police said.
“Another code which was used by the gang was: “Mandir mein ghanti bajayi kya?” This means have you called Pillai?” the crime branch officer said.
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