2 gutkha kings of India and an underworld don… This is how they made Pakistanis who eat paan addicted to gutkha

New Delhi: The Jharkhand government has announced a complete ban on the sale, storage and consumption of gutkha and pan masala in the state. Announcing this big decision, the state’s Health Minister Dr. Irfan Ansari said, “This tough step has been taken to realize Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s dream of a healthy Jharkhand. This ban is not just a rule, but a revolutionary initiative to save the youth of Jharkhand from the clutches of addiction.”

How revolutionary is this decision of the Jharkhand government and how effective it will prove to be on the ground, it remains to be seen in the future, but after this decision, discussions about gutkha have started everywhere. In such a situation, let us know how two gutkha traders of India served gutkha to Pakistanis who eat paan.

These stories are related to Dawood Ibrahim. Two gutkha kings of India had reached Dawood out of fear, but Dawood spread the ‘rule’ of firebrand gutkha in Pakistan with their help.

The story of Gutkha King…

Actually, the rivalry between fugitive Dawood, his brother Anees and two Gutkha Kings of India has a big role in making Pakistani people addicted to Gutkha. This story starts from Bombay, reaches Dubai and then ends in Karachi. After the ‘justice’ that was done in this corporate war, the foundation of a modern Gutkha manufacturing plant was laid in Karachi.

This incident is of 24-26 years ago. The trade relations between India and Pakistan were not very good. Despite this, all the technology and machinery for this Gutkha factory reached Karachi via Dubai from Mumbai.

Pakistanis used to chew Paan till 1971

If we look at the story of Gutkha in Pakistan, our eyes go to the sea coasts of Sindh and Balochistan. Karachi is in this Sindh province, which is Pakistan’s business hub as well as Gutkha hub. In a report published in Pakistan’s newspaper The Tribune, Dr Fateh Mohammad Barfat, a sociology professor at Sindh University, says, ‘Chewing gutkha like paan was not a part of the Sindhi tradition before partition. Slowly, people got addicted to paan.’

Let us once again come to the underworld connection of gutkha. How Dawood’s brother Anees recognized the potential hidden in this business and then started to set up an entire industry of it in Pakistan. The CBI has explained this story in detail in the charge sheet filed in the MCOCA court in 2016. Journalist M Hussain Zaidi has also told the interesting story of the growth of the gutkha industry in Pakistan in his book ‘Dongri se Dubai tak’.

In the 90s and early 2000s, Pakistanis used to smuggle gutkha of popular brands of Bombay to Pakistan. The Dubai route was used for this. Indian brands like Goa, One Thousand, RMD were in great demand in Pakistan. But due to smuggling, this gutkha was becoming very expensive for the poor people of Pakistan. While its biggest customer was this lower class.

In the 90s, this easy business of earning money in Pakistan could not escape the eyes of Dawood brothers. Dawood and Anees understood that a lot of money can be made from this business with a little hard work. By this time, Dawood had settled in Karachi under the patronage of ISI. D Company was operating from Dubai and Karachi.

Anees Ibrahim’s hopes had started rising. He was eyeing Indian brands. He already had the money, he needed technology. He needed machines. He needed a person who could tell him how to make such a gutkha that would be on the lips of Pakistanis. D Company was looking for a perfect opportunity and at the same time, a fierce corporate war was going on between two gutkha giants of India.

Joshi vs Dhariwal i.e. Goa vs RMD
This rivalry between two gutkha kings is the story of a confrontation between the boss and his subordinate manager. The boss was Dhariwal and the manager was Jagdish Joshi. The gutkha that Dhariwal used to make was named RMD and the gutkha that Joshi’s company used to make was named Goa.

Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal i.e. RMD, this is the name of the gutkha industry which was once considered the king of the business. If you ask any Mumbai boy how popular this brand is, he will tell you stories about it.

Born in Shirur, Pune, Dhariwal inherited a bidi factory with 20 workers from his father. On the strength of this, he became the gutkha king, whose market valuation was up to 8000 crores. Jagdish Joshi was once the manager in this company. After clashing with his own boss, Jagdish Joshi launched his own gutkha brand in the market, named Goa. Now Goa was giving competition to RMD. Within a few years, the two brands were on equal footing.

Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim
Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim wanted Dawood to provide him with the technology and knowledge to make gutkha. Anees Ibrahim may have said this as an appeal, but this statement made under Dawood’s patronage was like an order for the Indian businessman.

According to the CBI chargesheet, this deal was done in September 1999. CBI also claims that Dhariwal was dealing with Dawood since 1996. According to CBI, in August 1999, Dawood’s henchmen Antulay and Salim Sheikh even beat up Jagdish Joshi. Because Joshi was not willing to settle the deal with Dhariwal. It was not easy for Joshi to clash with Dawood. He had to do business as well as stay in Mumbai. So he agreed to the deal.

Ali Asgar Company sent machines from Mumbai to Dubai and then to Karachi

Finally, Joshi was ready to give his trade secret to Dawood family after getting Rs 7 crore. According to the story written in Dongri to Dubai, soon 15 gutkha manufacturing machines and four pouch making machines were first sent to Dubai and then from here to Karachi in 2001-02. According to Zaidi, this machinery was exported from Nhava Sheva to Dubai in the name of Ali Asgar Company. Joshi had appointed Raju Pachariya to monitor this deal. Later he sent a man named Biju George to Karachi. Biju was training workers to make gutkha in Anees’ factory.

Finally, in a few months, with the help of Indian technology, underworld capital and Dawood’s supervision, a strong and fiery gutkha for Pakistanis was launched in the Karachi market. This brand became very popular and as expected Dawood Anees made a lot of money. Ibrahim brother remained behind the scenes throughout the business operation.