MUMBAI, Dec. 29 -- As a special court constituted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) recently recorded further evidence against accused Farooq Mansuri, also known as Farooq Takla, and Tribhuvan Rampati Singh alias Shrikant Rai Rampati Rai, the proceedings have once again brought into focus the 1992 Sir JJ Hospital shootout, one of the most brazen underworld attacks in the city, in which gangster Shailesh Haldankar and two on-duty police constables were shot dead. The shootout occurred in the early hours of September 12, 1992, at the state-run facility where Haldankar, an alleged sharpshooter of the Arun Gawli gang, had been admitted for treatment. According to the prosecution's case, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar ordered the assault to avenge the killing of his brother-in-law, Ismail Parkar, for which he blamed members of the Gawli gang. Court documents, including confessional statements recorded in the case, outline the sequence of events leading up to the attack. Some Dawood gang members first carried out reconnaissance at the hospital to assess the police deployment. Subsequently, a team of two dozen shooters arrived in the early morning, armed with AK-47 rifles, pistols and revolvers. The assailants were alleged to have posed as police escorts to gain access to the ward where Haldankar was lodged. When the armed men attempted to enter the ward, the police constables on guard shut the door, following which firing began. Shots were fired at the closed door with automatic weapons, leading to an exchange of fire inside the hospital premises. Haldankar and the two constables posted for his security were killed in the shooting, an episode that underscored the intensity of gang warfare in Mumbai during the early 1990s and its spillover into public institutions. A central figure in the prosecution narrative was Subhashsingh Thakur, who was arrested by the Delhi Police in July 1993, and his confessional statement was recorded in November of that year. Portions of the confession attribute to Thakur a role in the planning and execution of the JJ Hospital operation, including details of the movements of the assailants before and after the shootout and their attempts to flee Mumbai. Trial court proceedings culminated in Thakur being sentenced to death, a sentence that was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment on appeal. Thakur is presently incarcerated in connection with a 2022 murder case registered against him by the Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar police, in which he has been booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Police have described Thakur - known in the Vasai-Virar region as "Chacha" - as a once-feared underworld figure who allegedly acted as an intermediary in property-related disputes. Meanwhile, the trial against Takla and Rampati Singh has reached the evidence stage after decades of delay, largely due to their prolonged abscondence and consequent separation of their trial from proceedings against other accused. Takla was arrested in the JJ Hospital shootout case on April 19, 2018, after being deported to India a month earlier in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. With both accused now before the court, the prosecution has begun leading evidence in the long-pending case arising from the 1992 shootout, reviving judicial scrutiny of one of the most notorious episodes of Mumbai's underworld violence....