MUMBAI, Sept. 16 -- On August 16, 12 men pulled up in two luxury cars and barged into an office on the fifth floor of Trade Star building at MIDC in Andheri (east). They confronted the owner of a company, whose office was being renovated and had employed labourers registered with a mathadi union. The leader of the goons, a mukadam (crew leader) registered with a mathadi union, demanded Rs.10 lakh from the proprietors and gave him a preview of what would happen if he refused to pay up. The goons dragged his mukadam and team into the street and thrashed them with mallets and crowbars. The goons weren't looking to be hired in place of the crew doing the work; all they wanted was 'protection money' - money that would prevent future assaults. In this case, the mukadam executing the work, Shaud Aslam Dosani, was registered with a rival mathadi union than the leader of the goons, who police have identified as Puran Arun Singh alias Chadda, 39, adding another layer to the confrontation. MIDC police arrested seven men including Singh for the August 16 assault. Except for Singh, the others were masquerading as his mathadi crew. Four others, including alleged gang leader Kannan Chinnadurai Vanniyar, 48, alias Bada Kanna, are at large. They were booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for offences relating to attempt to murder, extortion, criminal conspiracy and assault. But last week, after police discovered cases registered against each gang member in the western suburbs, the MIDC police invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999, against them. Explaining the turn taken by the case, Ghanshyam Nair, senior inspector with the MIDC police, said the August 16 assault was part of an organised crime racket, a syndicate allegedly led by Vanniyar. The gang members are residents of Aarey Colony and Andheri, and operate largely in MIDC, Andheri, offices in Powai and film studios in Goregaon east. They have a monopoly in cement-and metal-related works, police said. They said extortion gangs have been operating in these areas for 20 years, allegedly under four leaders including Vanniyar, Kannan Swami (Chota Kannan) 47, Satyam Guru Khel, 45, and Muddashir Shaikh 35. Their modus operandi doesn't change: They barge into offices, factories and film studios, brandishing swords and knives, and threaten to assault rival mathadi crews working there as well as regular employees, said Nair. He said Singh alone has 12 cases (what kind) against him while another gang member, Satyam Guru Khel, 45, has 16 cases of assault and extortion registered against him. According to deputy commissioner of police (DCP), west zone 3, Datta Nalawade, to register as a mukadam with a mathadi union, an individual must have worked as a labourer for at least two years. A mukadam leads a team of at least ten men, called a 'toli'. When companies decide to engage labourers, they approach one of the unions. A survey is then conducted by the union about the nature of work, duration and number of workers required. The union then assigns a mukadam, who leads crews of loaders, coolies, construction workers or other labourers, as required. The extortion gangs led by a mukadam do not get work assigned by the union. Aiming to purely extort money, they approach the owners of companies and businesspersons directly, and demand protection money from them, police said. According to Nalawade, there are 450 companies and offices in Andheri's SEEPZ and 350 in MIDC. "Each company requires labourers from time to time and the gangs, who make it their business to know where work needs to be done, turn up at an opportune moment. For instance, on August 16, Singh's gang turned up just 10 minutes after Dosani began discussing the work order, police said. They said Vanniyar started his career in crime as part of the kind of syndicate he now leads, 20 years ago. Living in a bungalow in Aarey Milk Colony, he has 20 cases of assault and extortion registered against him in Powai, Aarey Colony, MIDC, Andheri, Sakinaka, Sahar, Dindoshi and Meghwadi. "Vanniyar has many cases of extortion against him registered by studio owners in Film City," said Nair. Each gang member takes home Rs.2-3 lakh every month, extorted from industrialists, company owners and businesspersons. "These are local goons often affiliated to a political party," he added. There are eight mathadi boards in Mumbai, representing metal, cement, transport and other sectors, said Narendra Patil, general secretary, Matahdi Kamgar Sangathan. "These gangs operate without the consent or knowledge of the Mathadi Kamgar Board. They are extortionists and are misusing their union membership." The MIDC police says they will urge mathadi unions to verify the antecedents of workers before they register with them....