Detection Unit consisted of several high-profile officers of Mumbai Police. The squad primarily dealt with members of the Mumbai underworld and other criminal gangs.
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Gang wars in Mumbai
The Unit came to be known as the "Encounter Squad" because of its involvement in the encounter killings. It came into prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, when they started dealing with Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company gang, the Arun Gawali gang and the Amar Naik gang.
The 'encounter’, was a euphemism for a situation in which a gangster was cornered, asked to surrender, ostensibly attacked the police or tried to escape, and was shot dead in retaliatory action. As the encounters increased, so did the popularity of the "encounter specialist." Daya Nayak, Valentine Fernandes, Pradeep Sharma, Ravindranath Angre, Praful Bhosale, Raju Pillai, Vijay Salaskar, Shivaji Kolekar, Sachin Waze and Sanjay Kadam became cult figures, mythologised by the media.
The first encounter occurred on January 11, 1982 when gangster Manya Surve was shot dead by police officers Raja Tambat and Isaque Bagwan at the Wadala area. The famous killing of Maya Dolas in the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout bought focus on this unit for first time. More than 400 criminals from different gangs were killed by this squad.
Since the cracking of the 1993 Mumbai Bomb blasts case, the squad played an instrumental role in controlling the Dawood Ibrahim, Chota Rajan, Ashwin Naik, Ravi Pujari, Ejaz Lakdawala, Ali Budesh, and Arun Gawli gangs in Mumbai.
The squad was dissolved after rival dons Dawood and Chota Rajan fled India, but revived after the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.
The end of the squad came with the departure of Waze and Nayak from service, and death of Vijay Salaskar, killed in a gun battle with the Taj Hotel terrorists.