Aftab Ahmed Khan (27 February 1940 — 21 January 2022) was an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n police officer (

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

)-turned-politician from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, noted for his

encounter killings Encounter killing is a term used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka since the late 20th century to describe extrajudicial killings by the police or the armed forces, supposedly in self-defence, when they encounter suspected gangsters or ...

of gangsters from the

organized crime syndicates. He is also known as the founder of Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in 1990.

Early life and background

His father A.S. Khan had been a noted Public Prosecutor in undivided Hyderabad State and then in Bombay State, practising at the Aurangabad Sessions Court and the High Court.

Career

An officer of the

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (I ...

, Khan was a

Deputy Inspector General of Police A Deputy Inspector General of Police (abbreviated as DIG) is a high-ranking official position in Police in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. India Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) is a rank ...

in Maharashtra state in the 1980s. He shot into fame with the

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

at the

Lokhandwala Complex Lokhandwala Complex, also known as Lokhandwala, is a large upmarket and affluent residential and commercial neighbourhood in Andheri West suburb in Mumbai, India. It is approximately 5 km from Andheri station. The name Lokhandwala com ...

Andheri Andheri ( �n̪d̪ʱeɾiː is a locality in the western part of the city of Mumbai in India. Udayanagari, the name of a hill near the Mahakali caves, inspired the name Andheri. On the former islet of Versova, also known as Vasave, there was ano ...

, in which seven gangsters including

Maya Dolas Maya Dolas (born Mahindra Dolas; 15 October 1966 — 16 November 1991) was an Indian underworld gangster who used to work for the D-Company don, Dawood Ibrahim. He was killed in an encounter at the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout by the the ...

and

Dilip Buwa Dilip Buwa (born Dilip Kohok; 1966 — 16 November 1991) was a notorious Indian gangster who used to work for the D-Company, an international crime syndicate of the Mumbai underworld led by Dawood Ibrahim. He was one of the men who were killed ...

were killed in 1991. Khan was commissioned as an

officer in 1963 in the Maharashtra Cadre. He served as SDPO (DySP) of Miraj (1965-1967) and Baramati (1967-1968), Addl. SP (HQ) of

Ahmednagar District Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical Ahmednagar city is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar and Sangamner are largest cities in ...

(1968-1969), Addl. SP (Town)

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashi ...

(1969-1971), Acting Commandant in the rank of Addl. SP of SRPF Group II at Pune (1971-1973), SP of

Satara District Satara district (Marathi pronunciation: aːt̪aɾaː is a district of Maharashtra state in western India with an area of and a population of 3,003,741 of which 14.17% were urban (). Satara is the capital of the district and other major towns ...

(1973–1975), DCP of

Mumbai Police Detection Unit Detection Unit consisted of several high-profile officers of Mumbai Police. The squad primarily dealt with members of the Mumbai underworld and other criminal gangs. Gang wars in Mumbai The Unit came to be known as the "Encounter Squad" because ...

(1975–1977), Commandant of Group VIII at Mumbai (1977–1978), SP of Amravati District (1978–1980), SSP of

Thane District Thane district (Pronunciation: �ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the country, with 11,060,148 inhabitants; however, ...

in which capacity he was involved in the raising of the Thane Commissionerate as Addl. Commissioner (I) in the rank of SSP and later DIG (1980–1984), DIG (Sector Commander) of CRPF on deputation in Punjab (1984–1986), Joint Director of IB (Haryana) in 1986–1987 on Central Deputation, Addl. CP of Mumbai Police Crime Branch (1987–1989), DIG (State Intelligence Bureau) (1989–1990), Addl. CP (North) (1990–1993) and Jt. Cp (Crime) (1993–1995) of Mumbai Police. He retired 2 years prematurely as ADG (Training) of

Maharashtra Police Maharashtra Police (IAST: ''Mahārāṣṭra Polīs Sēvā'', formerly ''Bombay State Police'') is the law enforcement agency responsible for the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is headed by Director General of Police, Rajnish Seth (IPS), and h ...

in 1997. In the mid-1990s, Khan sought to build on his media image by entering politics. Initially expressing interest in joining the Samajwadi Party, he eventually went with the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...

, with whom he stood for elections in the Mumbai North-west constituency in 1998. However, he was unsuccessful.

Later life and death

Khan later helped to run a private security agency that he set up in 1996, along with his son. Following a bout of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, he died of pneumonia in Mumbai on 21 January 2022, at the age of 81.

In popular culture

In 2007, producer

Apoorva Lakhia Apoorva Lakhia is an Indian film director. Early life Lakhia was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, India. He was educated at the Lawrence School, Sanawar. He dropped out of a filmmaking course in New York University to assist Mira Nair on ''T ...

directed the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

crime film ''

Shootout at Lokhandwala ''Shootout at Lokhandwala'' is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed and co-written by Apoorva Lakhia and co-written and co-produced by Sanjay Gupta, with Ekta Kapoor serving as producer and Suresh Nair serving as writer. ...

'', which was based on the

1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout The 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout was a gunbattle that occurred on 16 November 1991 at the Lokhandwala Complex, Bombay (now Mumbai), between seven gangsters led by Maya Dolas and members of the Mumbai Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (A ...

led by Aftab Ahmed Khan. Khan was also portrayed in the film as Additional Police Commissioner Shamsher Khan played by

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

. He himself appeared as Commissioner Krishnamurthy in the film as well.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Aftab Ahmed 1940 births 2022 deaths Indian Muslims Indian Police Service officers Janata Dal politicians Maharashtra politicians 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout Police officers from Mumbai Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India