Byculla

Byculla is a central Mumbai neighborhood that functions in the book as a recurring anchor for the city's underworld, a place where the domestic lives of gangsters and their wives intersect with the violent machinery of organized crime. It is the home of Arun Gawli's fortress-like Dagdi Chawl, the site of Neeta Naik's murder, and the residence of several key figures in the Mumbai underworld, making it a microcosm of the criminal ecosystem the book documents. The neighborhood's significance lies not in a single event but in its persistent presence as a backdrop for the intertwined fates of the city's most notorious criminals and the women who sustain them.

A Hub of Gangland Power

Byculla is most prominently identified as the stronghold of the Hindu ganglord Arun Gawli. The book describes him as living in Dagdi Chawl in Byculla, a location that serves as both his home and his base of operations. It is from this chawl that Gawli wages a constant war against Dawood Ibrahim, a rivalry that defines a significant portion of Mumbai's gangland politics. The neighborhood is thus established as a key node in the city's criminal geography, a place where the power of one don is anchored and from which he projects his influence. This is where Gawli's wife, Asha, runs his household and, later, his political and criminal affairs, making Byculla the center of the Gawli empire.

The Domestic Fortress and Political Base

The neighborhood is also the site of the Gawli family's domestic life, which becomes a fortress against the state. When Arun married the seventeen-year-old Zubeida, who also lived in Byculla, she moved into his household at Dagdi Chawl. It was here that Asha raised their five children and, when Arun was frequently imprisoned, took the reins of his operations. The book details how holes were dug inside their kitchen, right below the area housing the gas cylinder, for Arun to hide in whenever the police arrived with an arrest warrant. This domestic space was not just a home but a strategic refuge. Byculla was also the political base from which Asha campaigned for her husband, working in the constituency to redress grievances while Arun was an MLA in jail, and later filing his nomination papers for the 2009 elections, a campaign that ultimately failed.

A Site of Violence and Murder

Byculla is also the scene of one of the book's most brutal domestic crimes. On 13 November 2000, Neeta Naik arrived at her Byculla home around noon. As she was unlocking her door, two men, identified as Manoj Bhalekar and Sunil Jadhav, brutally gunned her down. She was rushed to KEM Hospital in Parel, where she succumbed to her injuries a day later. The murder was attributed to her husband, Ashwin Naik, who, from inside Tihar jail, had allegedly conspired to have her killed over her suspected extramarital affairs. The location of the murder in her own Byculla home underscores the book's theme of violence penetrating the domestic sphere, turning the neighborhood into a stage for the lethal consequences of gangland jealousy and control.

A Place of Origin and Contrast

Beyond the Gawli and Naik families, Byculla serves as a point of origin for other figures in the underworld. Rubina Siraj Sayyed, who would later become an underworld aide and be convicted under MCOCA, worked as a renowned beautician in south Mumbai's Dongri area before her arrest. Her story, which began in a beauty parlour and ended in the Byculla Women's Jail, highlights the neighborhood's role as a launchpad for ambition that turns criminal. The area also provides a stark contrast to other locations in the book, such as the Sion-Koliwada slum or Sonapur Lane in Reay Road, which are described as dens of crime and disease. Byculla, while being a criminal hub, is presented as a more established, residential base for the city's most powerful gangsters, a place where their families live and their political ambitions are nurtured, in contrast to the more transient and impoverished spaces of the city's underbelly.