I have been a trustee of the Salsette Parsi Association (SPA) since 1999 and on July 2, 2023 was appointed its chairman, being the senior most trustee. This brought to mind my long association with the area.
When I was assistant commissioner of police, Jogeshwari division, in 1992-93, I was approached by the late Jal Contractor, retired deputy commissioner of police, to help clear the Salsette jungle which had been taken over by rogues, bootleggers and gangsters. These elements had occupied the dakhma in Salsette which was no longer in use and were conducting an illegal liquor business from there.
Archival images of Salsette dakhma (top) and colony (above)
Contractor wished to clear the jungle of these anti-social elements so that the SPA could construct five or six buildings on its grounds to accommodate poor and middle class Parsi and Irani Zoroastrians (see "Concretizing dreams,” Parsiana, June 1997).
I took up the challenge and made meticulous preparations for the raid, forming a squad of two senior inspectors and eight fully armed policemen with searchlights. A ladder was put up to scale the side of the dakhma. The squad members found that the rogues had placed three or four ladders inside the dakhma, which made it easier for our officers and men to enter.
There were six miscreants inside the dakhma. A thorough search was made and the police party found 22 kerosene tins of illicit liquor that had been stored in the bhandar. Two kattas (Indian made pistols) and 15 bullets/rounds of ammunition were also found along with explosives and materials for making bombs such as sulphuric and nitric acid, bags full of pieces of broken glass and handbags full of nails and stones. All the miscreants were taken to the police station, and one of them was discovered to be a known gangster.
I informed additional police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal and deputy police commissioner Kume about the successful raid, for which they congratulated me. The following day the accused were brought before the commissioner of police. I requested him to arrest the miscreants under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) as they had been "conducting their illicit liquor business inside our holy dakhma where nobody is allowed to enter, not even priests, only the pall bearers. It is a great insult to the Parsi Irani community.” He agreed to take severe action.
I informed Contractor that I had cleared the Salsette jungle and the trustees could go ahead with construction of the buildings which they did. And this is how the Salsette colony came into being.
SAM DARABSHAH PATEL