Aftab Ahmed Khan, IPS officer credited with starting ATS in Maharashtra, passes away at 81

Sources said that he had recovered from Covid two weeks back and was doing well till his health took a downturn on Friday following which he passed away.

Khan, a 1963-batch IPS officer, is most well-known for leading the four-hour long encounter of seven alleged well-armed gangsters including Maya Dolas at the Lokhandwala Complex in Andheri in 1991.

The encounter had been covered live on TV channels and had created a stir back then. Khan was then the additional commissioner of police (west region).

The incident had also inspired the Bollywood movie ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’. Following the incident, there were certain allegations following which an enquiry had been instituted against Khan.

The IPS officer is credited for starting the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) in Maharashtra on the lines of the Philadelphia and Los Angeles police’s ‘Special Weapons and Tactical Team’ (SWAT). The ATS, though disbanded briefly in the following years, would eventually go on to investigate some of major terror incidents in the city.

After retirement, Khan joined the Janata Dal party in 1998 and stood for elections from the North-West constituency in Mumbai. He was unsuccessful and then went on to start his own security firm.

Former Mumbai Commissioner MN Singh, who was two batches junior to Khan, said, “Khan was two batches my senior. Personally, he was a happy-go-lucky gregarious person and a good friend of mine. When it came to work, he was an outstanding field man who was bold and had the courage of his conviction. He was independent-minded and that may have rubbed some people the wrong way but he was an outstanding officer.”