By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Nov 9:
Memories of dreaded psychopath serial killer Raman Raghav who had unleashed terror in Mumbai in the seventies were revived with the passing away of retired police officer Alex Fialho, who was instrumental in nabbing him.
Fialho, retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) died on November 13 at his residence in Colaba in South Mumbai. He was 92 and is survived by his wife, sons, daughter, and grandchildren. The last rites were performed at St Andrews Church in suburban Bandra, in presence of family members.
He had solved many important cases, but the arrest of Raghav, when the entire Mumbai was gripped with fear, was the most remarkable. He was awarded a medal by the President of India. Besides, the then Mumbai Police Commissioner E S Modak announced a cash reward of Rs 1,000 for him.
Role model
In an interview with “Imphal Times”, retired Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Nagesh Raykar said that he was junior at that time. But he had heard that Fialho was very professional, knowledgeable, and skillful. “We used to look at him as a role model”. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) (Konkan region) Sanjay Mohite said that he had no occasion to work with Fialho, but he was known to be skillful in detecting cases.
Raghav described as the worst than the Boston Strangler( who had killed 13 women in the Boston, USA, during the early 1960s), had terrorized Mumbai between 1966 and 1968 and had bludgeoned to death nearly 41 people, mostly hutment dwellers. He used to kill people with an iron jammy, while they were asleep.
In those days, Mumbai had mostly 2 to 3-floor houses, chawls, and shanties. The people were so scared that they had stopped sleeping on the veranda during the night. The police had deployed a squad comprising one Police Sub-Inspector, 20 constables, and a sniffer dog for night patrol. While a nationwide hunt was on, Commissioner E S Modak had formed a special team led by Police Inspector Vinayakrao Vakatkar to crack the case. Fialho was in his team.
Arrested on Ganesh Chaturthi
But there was no breakthrough and public emotions had reached fever pitch. The police were tense especially on August 26, 1968, since the next day was Ganesh Chaturthi, Maharashtra’s most important festival. The people were prayed and truly the gods were kind.
The next day (27 August 1968) Fialho attached to Dongri police station, while on routine patrolling, spotted Raghav near Bhendi Bazar. He was wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants with an umbrella in his hand. He had assaulted one Mangla Dalvi in Kandivali on August 25. Fortunately, she escaped and survived. The description of Raghav. Given by her, was passed on to all police stations.
Fialho, who was having the photograph of Raghav, accosted him and asked his name. He replied as “Sindhi Dalwai”. He also asked him, why his umbrella was wet since it was dry in Bhendi Bazar. Raghav told him that he had been to Malad in the Northern suburbs, where it was raining heavily for the last two days.
This arose the suspicion since the man with that description was last spotted in Malad. So Fialho took him to police headquarters in the Crawford Market area. During interrogation, Raghav identified himself as “Sindhi Dalvai”. It came to light that this was one of his assumed names. Then the fingerprints experts also confirmed his identity and police were convinced that the most wanted man was in their net.
The news of Raghav’s arrest spread like a wildfire. The All India Radio interrupted the running program and flashed the news and the people heaved a sigh of relief. Fialho became a national hero.
Judges differed
After initial trials, the Sessions Court awarded the death penalty to Raghav. However, the medical board which examined him described his condition as the one suffering from “paranoid schizophrenia”. After hearing, a division bench comprising justices R A Jahagirdar and A D Tated at the Bombay High Court delivered the final judgment on August 10, 1987. However, the judges differed. While Justice Tated confirmed the death penalty, Justice Jahagirdar awarded life imprisonment. As such Raghav was sent to Yerawada jail After serving a jail term of about 8 years, Raghav died due to kidney failure at Sassoon General Hospital in Pune in 1995.
This correspondent who had covered the hearing, briefly interviewed Raghav, when he was under police escort in the high court. His signature was also obtained as proof. During the conversation, he was found to be of sound mind, with sharp memory. Subsequently, Fialho was promoted as a senior police inspector and then as an ACP in the Colaba division. A Hindi feature film was also made based on Raghav.
