Ashraf Khan

Ashraf Khan, who would later rename herself Sapna, is one of the most tragic figures in Mafia Queens of Mumbai. Her story moves from sheltered domesticity to the violent heart of the Mumbai underworld, driven by a single, all-consuming purpose: to avenge the murder of her husband, Mehmood Khan. Her transformation is not one of ambition or greed but of grief weaponized, a personal war declared against the most powerful gangster in the city, a war that would ultimately cost her life in a manner of extreme, targeted brutality.

Identity and Background

Ashraf was a strikingly attractive young woman who grew up in a rigid, conservative family. Her life changed when she met Mehmood at a friend's wedding and fell in love with him. When he later asked her to marry him, she did not hesitate. In the five years they were together, his one aim was to make her happy. Marriage to Mehmood gave her the freedom she had never known, and she embraced it, travelling with him and living what she described as the life of a queen. Her love for him was boundless, and even a brief period of separation hit her hard. The only shadow over their marriage was her ignorance of his work. She disliked the men he associated with and took offence at their nickname for him, 'Mehmood Kalia', a reference to his dark complexion. When she complained, he affectionately dismissed it as a non-issue, and when she voiced her apprehensions about his work, he simply told her not to worry. He never explained what he did, where he went, or with whom, leaving her completely ignorant of his life as a wanted gangster.

The Killing of Mehmood Khan

The premonition that had left Ashraf anxious on the day of Mehmood's return proved to be a harbinger of tragedy. After a brief, loving phone call in which he asked her to meet him at the airport, she rushed to Santa Cruz airport, adorned in her gold bangles, feeling guilty that she carried no gift for him. As she waited, she heard faint gunshots from the parking lot. Running towards the sound, she saw a pool of blood near a parked taxi and policemen drawing white markings on the ground. She overheard that the man shot had been taken to Cooper Hospital, but when she arrived, no one there knew of any gunshot patient. She went from station to station, steeling herself, until a policeman directed her to J.J. Hospital. There, her worst fears were realised: she was told that Mehmood Khan, a wanted gangster, had been shot dead in an encounter. Ashraf knew this was a lie, insisting that Mehmood could not have carried a gun past airport security. In the morgue, she identified his body, holding his lifeless fingers, the same fingers that had wiped her tears. The report stated he had died of four bullets after firing at the cops, and the press reported that police inspector Emanuel Amolik had led the encounter. Mehmood was buried the next day at Nariawali Qabrastan, with Ashraf, barred from the burial ground, waiting stubbornly outside the masjid until all rites were performed.

Transformation into Sapna

In the aftermath of her husband's murder, Ashraf's grief hardened into a singular resolve. She sought out the narrator of her story, introducing herself and stating plainly, 'I lost my husband Mehmood Khan last week. He was murdered.' Her purpose was clear: 'I want to settle scores with the man who killed my husband.' When asked about her plans, she revealed her dream to kill Dawood Ibrahim, the man she held responsible. It was the only thing she thought about night and day. To pursue this goal, she decided to adopt a new identity, one that would be acceptable to both Hindus and Muslims. She chose the name Sapna, meaning 'dream', and from that day forward, she used this name when dealing with Hindu gangsters and the Mumbai police. The narrator celebrated the rebirth, suggesting they eat biryani to mark the occasion, and she laughed, a moment of levity in an otherwise grim transformation.

Murder and Legacy

Sapna's war against Dawood ended in a horrifying act of retribution. A little before 10 p.m., a red Maruti van drove into the bustling lane of Hujjrah Mohalla where she lived. Four men stepped out with daggers and pistols and forced their way into her building. They woke her, dragged her to the floor, and kicked her in the stomach and hands to prevent her from reaching a weapon. As she screamed for help, her timid and unarmed neighbours stayed away. The men then used their daggers, deliberately targeting her breasts and vagina, inflicting over twenty-two stab wounds. They did not kill her quickly but subjected her to extreme torture, making an example of her for anyone who dared to think of taking on Dawood. When she collapsed, the men left, and the gathered crowd stood by in silence, knowing these were Dawood and Shakeel's men. Sapna was brought into the hospital dead. Her story, like those of the other women in the book, was part of a collection that a reviewer for Mint described as peeling back 'Mumbai's thin veneer of civilization', essential to completing the portrait of a corrupt city. Her life and death illustrate the brutal consequences of challenging the underworld's power structure, where a woman's grief could be transformed into a weapon, only to be met with a violence so extreme it sought to erase her entirely.