According to the joint intelligence of the Mumbai police crime branch and special branch, the don is mainly concentrating on carrying the ABS flag into rural areas of the state, especially in places where most of the established political parties have not yet made any inroads or carved a niche for themselves. In his efforts, he has the covert backing of some of the top Congress leaders, sources said.

The ABS claims to have over five-and-a-half-lakh members from over 4,600 branches across the state, not to mention its branches in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Daman. ABS general secretary, retired lieutenant generalAshok Mhatre said: ``We are holding a two-day-long session at Wadgaon tomorrow to finalise our list of 50 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and more than 150 candidates for the Assembly polls.''

However, Gawli's shift is more due to a closing of options than anything else. ``As it is, the Gawli gang is a spent force and is barely in the reckoning in the city,'' a top-rung crime branch officer claimed. Joint commissioner of police, crime, D Sivanandhan confirmed: ``Extortion threats from Gawli's gang have drastically reduced. Externment, detentions, arrests, seizure of firearms and encounters have crippled the gang.''

After using almost every weapon in their armoury, including preventive detentions (under National Security Act and Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Persons Act), arrests after extortion threats, and encounters of the top gang members like Bandya Adivalekar, Sharad Bandwe, Rajesh Roy and Tembya Babu, police externed Gawli outside Mumbai and Thane in February this year. The externmenthas dealt a crippling blow to the Dagdi don's gang.

``Ever since he was externed, the number of extortion threats from his gang have come down by over 40 per cent,'' an assistant commissioner of police said. Since 1998, police have arrested over 30 extortionists from the gang and detained more than 16 of Gawli's men under MPDA, including Raju Phillips.

The fortress-like precincts of Dagdi Chawl were for Gawli the symbol of his strength. But with his base now shifted to a far-flung village like Wadgaon Pir near Pune, that vital symbol has been lost. According to deputy commissioner of police, zone-II, K Venkatesham, ``We have learnt that businessmen are not summoned to Dagdi Chawl anymore. Gawli has also become inaccessible to his men. Now they have to travel far to seek instructions from him.''

The increasing disinterest of Gawli in gangland crime has also caused a split in the gang. A senior crime branch officer who is spearheading `anti-Gawli operations' said the gang has broken up into many splintergroups and factions.

Till the beginning of this year, Gawli had the Bandya Adivalekar and Sharad Bandwe group providing his most active men. Then there were the Dilip Kulkarni (alias D K), Tembya Babu and Sanjaya Bendkule factions providing additional strength. However, barring Kulkarni, all the other faction leaders have been gunned down in police encounters.

In fact, in the 41 encounters carried out by police this year so far, the damage done to Gawli gang has been the most intensive. Leading shooters including Rajesh Roy, Mohan Mali and Sadanand Shetty have been shot dead. With the killing of the top-rung members, those in the lower rungs have graduated to the upper echelons.

The empty slots were filled by Namdeo Patil and Bandya Parab, currently the most dreaded shooter and extortionist duo of the gang, among others. Another faction of the gang is now led by Keshav Anna and Vinayak Karanjekar from Kanjurmarg, and the remaining groups are led by Gawli's ace shooter Sunil Ghate, who is out on bail andcurrently in Dagdi chawl. Ghate has aligned with Sudhakar Mirgal, and both use Kulkarni's name to extort money, police said.

Among the various faction leaders, sources said, only Ghate and Baban Raghav are trusted by the don. Raghav, Karanjekar and Pandu Putra are next on the hitlist of the crime branch. ``Gawli is so crippled that we won't even consider wasting a single bullet on him,'' a senior police officer said.