One of India's most notorious gangster, Naren Ghandu, who was today convicted by a bench of Mumbai High court for being responsible for killing of 40 people and injuring 55 others in a shootout at a Mumbai bar, demanded that he should be given a chance to prove himself. "I'm much more than just a gangster. I request the court to provide me opportunity to display to the people of the country all my fine qualities and allow them a chance to love and admire me." said the mafia don to the bench after his conviction.
A couple of months prior to the shootout, his father, the notorious mafia don, Indravardhan Gandhu was gunned down by associates of rival D-gang. In retaliation, Naren Ghandu and his hoodlums tracked and shot down several key members of D-gang at a bar in Central Mumbai. The attack which was carried out in broad daylight resulted in death of nearly 25 bystanders who were caught in the deadly crossfire between the two gangs.
An unrepentant Naren Ghandu demanded that he should be made at least a mayor of a small town so that he can prove to people that he is a capable administrator. "Give me some position of power. If not Prime Minister of the country, at least make me chief minister of some state or a minister in the union cabinet. If that is asking for too much, I'm willing to settle even for mayorship of a small town. If provided a chance, I can show to people how good a leader I can be. I promise that I will give priority to development work and to rooting out corruption. If I'm made chief minister of a state, I guarantee you that my state will see high growth during my tenure. I'll use my contacts with the captains of industry to ensure investment worth several thousand crores in my state."
He also accused everyone who was demanding strictest possible punishment for him as being anti-Ghandu. "Why don't these anti-mafia activists who are demanding my head also demand that those who killed my father should be punished? These anti-mafia activists are not truly anti-mafia. They are biased against me and against Ghandu gang, and are on the payroll of D-gang."
During the trial, Naren Ghandu's lawyer, Rajiv Jethmalani had argued that it was wrong on the part of the prosecution to focus only on the killings during the shootout on that fateful day. He reminded the jury of the considerable leadership skills of the accused. "My lord, my client, despite his inexperience took over the leadership of his gang at a very young age after the unfortunate death of his father by K-gang. In just a few years after taking over the leadership mantle, he expanded the reach of his gang to newer overseas markets, increased his gang's annual collections from hawala, extortion, contract-killing, drug-smuggling, prostitution etc by several times and diversified into many newer areas like providing material and logistic support to international terrorist groups." The lawyer asked the jury, "Should we allow his considerable administration and leadership skills to go waste, just because of the tragic events of one night? Should the nation be deprived of his dynamic leadership because of hypocritical insistence on the part of a small group of anti-mafia activists to punish him?"
Naren Ghandu pleaded before the court to give him a chance to redeem himself. "What happened on that night was unfortunate, but it was unpreventable. When a big tree falls, the ground beneath our feet is bound to shake. My order to attack goons of K-gang was a reaction to the action of killing of my father. I regret the death of innocent bystanders, but isn't it time that we move on? How long can we keep harping on the bar killings? If given position of power, I can do a lot of good for the nation. I can provide dynamic leadership, and bring prosperity and progress in whichever area I'm allowed to prove my leadership."
"It is unfair to send me to the gallows without giving me a chance to gain love and admiration of my countrymen. Like Hitler, I want to rebuild my nation and write an autobiography espousing my political and economic ideology. Like Rajiv Gandhi, I want to provide youthful leadership to the country and like Narendra Modi, I want to build roads, highways and ports. The people of India are forgiving in nature and once they see all the good work I've done, they will not only forgive my crimes, but also demand that I should be made Prime Minister of India."
