Gujarat Police Arrest 1992 Radhika Gymkhana Massacre Convict After Seven Years

A convict in the 1992 Radhika Gymkhana massacre case, one of Gujarat's most notorious gangland crimes, has been arrested after remaining absconding for seven years. Gujarat Police apprehended Mohammad Taslim alias Mohammad Taslim Mohammad Umar Sheikh in Rajasthan following a coordinated operation by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch. Taslim had been serving a life sentence in the massacre case as well as the murder of former Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Raoof Valiullah before he disappeared while out on temporary parole in 2019.

According to police officials, Taslim was released on parole from Sabarmati Central Jail but failed to return upon completion of his leave period. Investigators said he spent the following years constantly changing his identity, location and communication methods to evade arrest. His movements remained difficult to track until intelligence inputs recently pointed authorities towards a hideout in Rajasthan.

Acting on the tip-off, multiple teams from the Ahmedabad Crime Branch launched a surveillance and tracking operation that culminated in his arrest. Officials described the operation as a carefully planned effort that involved monitoring his activities and movements before moving in to detain him. Legal procedures are now underway to transfer him back to Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, where he is expected to resume serving his sentence.

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Police records identify Taslim as a trusted sharpshooter of the gang led by underworld figure Abdul Latif, whose network was involved in several violent gang conflicts across Gujarat during the 1990s. The gang was linked to organised crime activities and became notorious for a series of high-profile attacks that shook the state during that period.

The Radhika Gymkhana massacre took place on August 3, 1992, in Ahmedabad's Odhav area. Investigators said a heavily armed gang opened indiscriminate fire at the venue while targeting rival bootlegger Hansraj Trivedi. Nine people were killed in the attack. The incident is widely remembered as the first major gang-war case in Gujarat in which AK-47 assault rifles were used, marking a significant escalation in organised criminal violence in the state.

Taslim was also convicted in the assassination of Raoof Valiullah, who was shot dead in Ahmedabad in October 1992. Police said the killing was allegedly connected to Valiullah's efforts to expose those responsible for the Radhika Gymkhana massacre. With Taslim's arrest, authorities have closed a long-standing manhunt and brought back into custody a key figure linked to two of Gujarat's most significant criminal cases of the early 1990s.

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