Daya Nayak

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Daya Nayak is a sub-inspector with the Mumbai police force. He is known for eliminating gangsters of the Mumbai underworld, acting on tip-offs from a well-developed intelligence gathering network. There are allegations that these shootouts, known as encounters, are staged. He is often referred to by the print media as an "Encounter Specialist" for this reason. He has shot dead 83 gangsters to date and arrested over 300 criminals.

1 Early life
2 Career as a police officer
3 Encounter Killing controversy
4 Allegations of mafia links and corruption
5 Charitable Causes
6 Movies
7 References

[edit] Early life

He was born in Yennehole village near Karkala in South Canara (present-day Udupi district) of Karnataka. Daya Nayak belongs to the Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins(RSB) which mainly reside along the western coast of the state of Karnataka and Maharastra.

He went to Mumbai to earn a living in 1979. He started off working in a Udupi restaurant. The owner of the restaurant encouraged him to continue his education. He completed his graduation while still working at the restaurant.

[edit] Career as a police officer

He joined the Mumbai police force in 1995 as a sub-inspector to later on become a much respected encounter specialist in the elite Crime Intelligence Unit. Along with the likes of Pradeep Sawant, Vijay Salaskar and Pradeep Sharma, he was responsible for almost wiping out the mafia in Mumbai.

[edit] Encounter Killing controversy

Encounter killings have been severely criticised by many human rights associations. It is believed that the encounters were carried out under orders and tacit support from top police officials as well as the state government. These drastic measures eventually led to a decline in extortion related killings of prominent businessmen. Such killings were commonplace during the period 1995-2000 in Mumbai.

Daya Nayak has many friends in Mumbai's Bollywood community. Prominent Bollywood personalities were often the targets of extortion and murder by the underworld.

[edit] Allegations of mafia links and corruption

In 2003, ex-journalist Ketan Tirodkar went to court and accused Mr Nayak of accepting money from mafia bosses. Mr Tirodkar is also facing trial for his alleged involvement in underworld activities.

In spite of being vouched for by the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai A.N. Roy, he is being investigated by the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court for these alleged links with the underworld. As a result, while investigations were on, he was transferred to a small police station in the western suburb of Kandivali in Mumbai.

Anti-corruption officials raided his house on January 21, 2006 following reports that he had amassed more wealth than his known sources of income could have allowed.

Though accused by the media of being an "on the run" absconder, Nayak presented himself at the court immediately on being asked to do so, on 23rd January, 2006; just hours after which he was suspended from the Mumbai police force.

On February 18, 2006, a sessions court issued a non-bailable warrant against him in the disproportionate assets case after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the sessions court, the Bombay high court and after the Supreme Court of India declined to interfere in the case and directed him to surrender.

Two days later, he surrendered as directed and was sent to judicial custody.

[edit] Charitable Causes

Daya Nayak has helped find a government school in his hometown in Karnataka, which was inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan amidst the presence of many other Bollywood personalities. It is alleged, though not established, that the money used to built the school was obtained through illegal means, primarily extortion.

[edit] Movies

The Hindi movies "Ab Tak Chhappan" by Ram Gopal Varma and N Chandra's "Kagaar" and a Kannada film named "Encounter Daya Nayak" were made based on his life.