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Dawood henchman Abdul Latif shot dead

Notorious gangster Abdul Latif was shot dead by the police early on Saturday morning in Ahmedabad, while trying to escape.

Latif, a Dawood Ibrahim associate, was arrested in Delhi in 1995. He had been lodged in the Sabarmati Central jail since then.

The incident occurred at 0215, near the Naroda crossing. Latif had been taken for an investigation and was being brought back to the jail. He asked permission to answer nature's call and tried to escape by firing at the police. The police retaliated, shooting him dead.

He was cremated under strict security in the evening at the Shahibaug graveyard.

Latif was involved in a number of cases of extortion, murders and even engineering communal riots in Ahmedabad. Last Sunday, operating from jail, the police say he got Sagirkhan Pathan, a Rashtriya Janata Party member, killed.

The 52-year-old criminal, who started as a bootlegger in the city twenty years ago, flourished in the trade to gather strong underworld connections. By 1980, he was a big gangster himself, and for the next decade unleashed a reign of terror in the city. He also entered the real estate business and became popular in the Dariapur locality.

Latif was allegedly involved in the murder of former Rajya Sabha member Rauf Valiullah four years ago. On one occasion, he was elected from five municipal wards and was an Ahmedabad municipal councillor. However, he was later disqualified from the post.

UNI

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