THE ‘UNDERCOVER DRUGS CARTEL CHIEF’ : THE CHIEF MINISTER WHO ‘DANCED’ WITH HIPPIES ONLY TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER’S BLUE EYED SECURITY HEAD. AND, YES, HE WAS ALSO NEGOTIATOR. THE STORY IS JUST LIKE THE ONE FROM A MOVIE. AND THE HERO IS IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD.
In the year 1977, a young Mizo man walked out of the training grounds of the Indian Police Service, eyes sharp with conviction, heart carried by a silent fire. He had seen militancy in his state from close quarters, withstood poverty and he knew his path was already unusual. But no one—not even he—could have predicted the dangerous theatre he would soon step into.
As Assistant Superintendent Lalduhoma’s first assignment was in Goa, in the Panaji subdivision, a place still shaking off the dust of Portuguese rule. Far from the postcard paradise the country imagined, this was a Goa of fractured order—thick with smugglers, drug lords, and a growing underbelly of lost foreigners and local dealers. Hippie trails bled into criminal routes. Cocaine and LSD were cheaper than honesty. Law was actually a rumor.
His senior, an experienced officer hardened by years in the field, offered a warning.
“Goa?” he said with a dry laugh. “You’d rather die than go there. You can’t crush a gang in that place. They own everything.” But Lalduhoma wasn’t looking for comfort. He was looking for change.His posting gave him charge of three police stations—Panaji, Ribandar, and Ponda—and he wasted no time understanding the pulse of the chaos. What he discovered unsettled him deeply: people making tens of lakhs overnight through drugs and smuggling, lawmen turning their faces away, and entire communities wrapped in fear or indifference.
He went home heavy-hearted. His wife looked at him with concern, and in a quiet moment she asked,
“If we live like this, will we ever be able to stand before God with a clear conscience?”
That question became the compass for what followed.
Determined to cut through the system, Lalduhoma took a daring decision. He went undercover.
No backup. No badge. Just him—slipping into the world of Goa’s criminal underclass like a ghost. First he became a Hippie, He grew his hair, changed his clothes, his mannerisms, his very speech. He learned not only their language but the dialect of addiction, greed, fear, and strange ideals of freedom. He started dancing in public places just like them.
” I did things I never imagined. I could still tolerate other things, but what troubled me most was when young men and women, dressed in Adam’s suits danced together. That was the hardest”, he once admiited.
After a few months, he became one of their leaders. And then soon he went further into the alley. He joined one of the largest drugs gangs operating out of Goa’s shadows.
At first, they watched him. Then they trusted him. He drank with them, danced with them, helped them plan routes and trades. Within three months, they called him their Deputy Leader.
He was, in the eyes of the gang, one of their own. But in truth, he was watching, waiting, listening.
When the time was right, he struck. Every name, every route, every hand in the system—he brought it all down. The entire gang was dismantled, almost overnight. Goa had never seen such a thing. The newspapers exploded with the story. Some called it a miracle. Others whispered that no one else could have done it. The miracle and daredevil acts of a young Mizo officer.
Lalduhoma was considered extremely strict and often called ‘ruthless’ in his handling the tasks in hand—eliminating the drugs cartels in Goa.
The news travelled fast. It reached the very top—Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself. She was hugely impressed.
In 1982, Lalduhoma was summoned to New Delhi by no other than Prime Minister herself. Not just recalled, but promoted ahead of seven of his seniors, and appointed Deputy Commissioner of Police. His new assignment: in charge of the Prime Minister’s personal security and the VVIP protocols at Palam Airport.
From dancing in a drugs den to standing beside Indira Gandhi—his journey was a tale of grit and grace.
Soon, he became a familiar name in Delhi’s corridors of power. His work was clean, efficient, fearless. He grew close to the Gandhi family, especially Rajiv Gandhi, who made him the Secretary of the Organizing Committee for the 1982 Asian Games, one of the nation’s biggest international events.
Through all of this, Lalduhoma remained the same man. He had faced death without flinching, but it was not glory he sought—it was purpose.
And his purpose was far from over.
It was as the most trusted officer of Indira Gandhi , he was given the assignment to bring MNF leader Laldenga to negotiation table. He was asked to meet Laldenga in the UK -what he did. Lalduhoma in his early youth was known to be close to MNF, though later he severed the tie with the militant group. In any case, Laldenga agreed to Indira Gandhi’s proposals ( The talks with the MNF had though been going on for a long time and IB was the key organization that held and arranged the talks several times in several places).
Lalduhoma , however, as far sighted and as clever he was, got whatever Laldenga told him in the UK taped. It is not clear whether the recording was done with the fierce MNF leader’s permission or the former undercover officer did it clandestinely. But that tape recorded speech of Lal Denga was played out across Mizoram during elections and that gave the Congress a deserved results—it won.
There is one more thing.
It had been decided that Lal Denga would come to India and meet Indira Gandhi. Lalduhoma would accompany him to the Prime Minister. The day was 31 October 1984 and the time was evening. As the fate would have it, in the morning Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
His closeness with the Gandhi family soon had the expected results : He left the IPS and joined politics as Congress man. He was elected as an MP. Since then it was a roller coaster journey for Lalduhoma who frustrated at the way Congress functioned left the party and became the first MP to be disqualified under the Anti Defection Law. What followed is a long journey in politics with regional parties being his choice.
Having fought long political battles, suffering defeats, losing some and achieving some results as well, ultimately Lalduhoma succeeded in bringing his party ZPM to power and he became the Chief Minister in 2023.
Now, it is, indeed , ironic that the fierce cop who dismantled highly complex drugs cartels of Goa in its peak and became hero is destined to face the worst kind of drugs smuggling through his own state. Lalduhoma knew how the drugs smuggling racket worked, he knew how the drugs were sold or used. But time has changed since late 1970s and as the Chief Minister he had to fight the menace again…..this time not as an undercover cop but as the chief political executive of a state—Mizoram. His was nodoubt a chequered career ..
(All information are gleaned from open sources and published write ups in English as well as in Mizo. Free translation used)