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.
Daya Nayak, Valentine D'Souza, Pradeep Sharma, Ravindranath Angre, Praful Bhosale, Raju Pillai, Vijay Salaskar, Shivaji Kolekar, Sachin Vaze and Sanjay Kadam became cult figures, mythologised by the media.
[2] The first encounter occurred on 11 January 1982 when gangster Manya Surve was shot dead by police officers Raja Tambat and Isaque Bagwan at the Wadala area.
Then after 2006 some mysterious hit groups led by an unknown youth from south India ruled with local, national as well as international support continued until the end of 2009.
[9] While Vaze was later dismissed for his involvement in the Antilia bomb scare in February 2021 and Nayak was transferred after reinstatement in 2012, Salaskar was killed in a gun battle at Rangbhavan Lane during the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai.