MUMBAI: Manu Manek , the dreaded market operator, ruled Dalal Street in the 1980s. The cobra, as Manek was referred to by brokers who disliked him, would run riot pounding and shorting stocks at will. Not that Manek was a 'perpetual bear' by choice, but in a market devoid of low interest funding, shorting was probably the smartest winning strategy to adopt.Bullish traders, in those days, borrowed money at 20 - 30% interest rates to take position in the market. Large bullish bets would gore stocks to higher price-levels, creating winning positions for bulls. This is when the Cobra would strike. He would short the stock ruthlessly causing significant price erosion in a matter of few days.Bullish traders, who had borrowed money to bet big, would be plagued by calls from money lenders - either to replenish margins or exit the position completely. When loses mount, the bulls pull out cutting huge losses. Manek - the Cobra would walk away with all the gains he made on his short positions. Radhakishan Damani , then in his late-20s, would stand at the farther end of the raucous trading ring and watch the Cobra in action. It is evident that the young Damani (RD) learnt a lot watching crafty Manek spoiling the bulls' party time and again. A few years later, RD would employ similar tricks to outgun his bête noire - the big bull Harshad Mehta On some days, Manek Bhansali (who later set up Enam Stock Broking with Nemish Shah) and Haresh Shanti (another trader) would join RD at the outer ring."He merely stood there and watched; he rarely called out trades… he'd would just stand idle and understand the pulse of the market," reminisces Deena Mehta, who stepped into Bombay Stock Exchange's trading ring for the first time in 1985.Few from that era imagined that RD - always in a white shirt and white trousers - would emerge as one of India's most successful stock investors , seed-fund a retail chain and take it public at premium valuations 15 years later too be counted among India's top billionaires.The Damani family's holding in the recently-listed Avenue Supermarts is close to Rs 40,000 crore. It would be "safe and conservative" - as one market watcher puts it, to add another Rs 15,000 crore as the value of RD's other stock market investments. This is counting out a few more thousands of crores Damani would have made in his stock trading career spanning over 40 years.But nobody really knew RD in the 80s. A few people who knew him, called him 'GS', because his 'entry badge' (used to enter the trading ring) said so.The late-80s and the early-90s were dark ages for Indian stock market - and more so for the exchange in Bombay. While not many would admit it publicly even today, the Bombay exchange was clearly divided - with Gujaratis on one side and Marwari traders holding fort on the other end."They spared no opportunity to bleed one another … So when one group of traders bought, the other group went on an overdrive to spoil the trade," explains a retired investment manager of the old Unit Trust of India.Gujarati traders found their voice when Harshad Mehta emerged from the shadows to become the most powerful trader on D-Street in the late-80s. At around the same time, a nondescript group - locally called the 'triple-Rs' - cut some real smart deals on the street.The 'triple-R' group comprised Radhakishan Damani, a chartist named Raju and a young greenhorn, who later became a big name in Indian stock market. The 'triple-Rs' were also joined by a few more traders and brokers - some of whom are active even now.As fate would have it, the growing clout of 'triple-Rs' launched them into the orbit of Harshad Mehta, who had already begun surfing large waves by then. According to some old timers, the 'triple-Rs' unintentionally (or intentionally, one would never know) got caught in the Gujarati-Marwari one-upmanship game. They became the antidote that Marwaris were searching for against the big bull Mehta."We were not influenced by world markets then… and people always played against each other. There was tension between Gujaratis and Marwari traders, but RD never took sides - at least openly," admits an operator who has known RD for over 30 years. "His friend Raju, the chartist, was a Gujarati," says the operator as an afterthought.According to old-timers, Harshad and the 'triple-Rs' first locked horns over Apollo Tyres. Harshad was long in the counter, but triple-Rs could not digest such high valuations for the tyre company. As was the practice of the day - and what they had learnt from the likes of Manu Manek - triple-Rs went on shorting the stock, without really knowing the source of Harshad's endless funding.Harshad went on shoveling in the money and triple-Rs continued to bleed every single day as the stock price surged. It came to a point when triple-Rs could not take the losses anymore. They exited the position cutting huge losses. Round one went to the big bull and his cronies. But this was just the beginning of a long war that spanned for nearly two years - until the scam was unearthed in 1992.Several years later, RD is believed to have told a few of his friends: "Agar Harshad saat din aur apni position hold kar leta, toh mujhe kathora leke road par utarna padta." (Had Harshad held his position for seven more days, I'd have taken a begging bowl and walked on the road)."Till 1992, RD was a punter like others of those times… He cleaned up after the Mehta scam. He turned a long-term investor after 1992," says a small-sized broker and a close acquaintance of RD. "Perhaps, he came too close to bankruptcy then. He was scared of losing money after that," the broker adds.The octogenarian investment manager of Unit Trust of India, who has seen most operators of the 80s and 90s in close quarters, has his own set of views."Harshad was a fraudster; Damani and his friends rigged stocks to exit at a later date, leaving gullible investors in the lurch. Manek was more humane of the lot; he simply shorted the market with his own money," he opines.The war between triple-Rs and Harshad Mehta, and the eventual downfall of the latter, had sucked in a lot of gullible investors into a whirlpool of losses."A lot of innocent traders, who followed Mehta's investment advice, suffered huge losses… RD let go a lot of small investors who owed money to him. He allowed a lot of small investor to exit trapped positions by buying them out," says the head of an NBFC, which used to lend money to the triple-Rs in the 90s.Veteran broker Deena Mehta has also seen the benevolent side of RD in the aftermath of the Ketan Parekh Scam. RD had helped a few of Deena's clients exit trapped positions in BPL and Videocon shares."When some of our clients got trapped in Videocon and BPL shares, RD helped us by taking over their positions... These scrips had become unsalable as there were no buyers in the market," Deena recollects."RD is a very positive player in times of crisis… He's a shrewd investor; makes more money when he's bearish," she opines.For all his positives, RD is painfully reclusive and has lot of inhibitions when it comes to facing the spotlight. He does not give media interviews or attend market-related events. RD is rarely seen at social gatherings and he is even more restrained when it comes to funding charity projects or taking up social causes.When RD funded the construction of two guest houses of 'Maheshwari Pragati Mandal' in Mumbai, he requested mandal office-bearers to not disclose his name.For a habitual recluse, RD is extremely well-networked. He is in regular touch with some of the best names in Indian stock market. Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala considers RD as his guru while Ramesh Damani, Nemish Shah and Vallabh Bhansali are said to be his close friends.The country's top money managers were present at the listing ceremony of Avenue Supermarts - "mostly to oblige the big man who had extended personal invitations," snitches a junior fund manager whose boss had attended the event.ET gathered views from close to 30 marketmen who have known RD and his friends over the years. A good number of them spoke to us in strict confidence. Many of RD's closest friends refused to co-operate, while a few only had pleasant things to say."RD is quite reserved… he's a simple man, not one bit proud of his achievements," says Dilip Bang of Nirmal Bang Securities."He treats everybody equal; gives a lot of respect to people… He's cordial to even strangers who catch up with him during his evening walk on the GirgaumChowpatty," Bang says.According to market sources, RD is greatly inspired by the legendary value investor Chandrakant Sampat, whom he had met in the early-90s.For those who are not aware, Sampat started investing in stocks in the early-70s, practiced the art of value investing and made a fortune. He passed away in 2015. It was Sampat who tipped RD with Gillette India."Sampat had only bought a few lakh worth of Gillette shares, but when RD heard about it, he packed a truck and went after it," says a broker who had close ties with Sampat."Sampat never liked RD's trading mentality… but then he considered him as one of the best. He used to say: RD is one guy who can think long term and also spot quick short-term trades," the broker recalls.VST Industries, HDFC, Sundaram Finance, ITC, Gillette, Crisil, ICRA, 3M India, Blue Dart Express, Prozone Intu Properties, Uniply Industries and India Cements are said to be some Daman's best picks over the years. He is also known to have shares of MNCs such as Nestle, Colgate and HUL in his portfolio.RD had acquired almost 15% of VST shares in year-2000 at an average price of Rs 80 apiece; the stock is now trading at Rs 2985. Likewise, a few years ago, RD had advised a friend to buy Sundaram Finance at Rs 270 per share; the stock is now trading at Rs 1690-levels. Another big scalp of RD was HDFC Bank, which he started acquiring at Rs 400 crore market-cap levels.When somebody asked RD why he was buying HDFC, and not a big PSU bank like SBI, he's rumoured to have said: "Dharavi Dharavi hota hai, aur Pedder Road Pedder Road… aage jaake HDFC ka bhaav dekh lena." (Dharavi is Dharavi and Pedder Road is Pedder Road… wait and see the value of HDFC Bank in future). The bank now commands a valuation of Rs 3.69 lakh crore on the bourses. "He keeps a core and trading portfolio… RD dabbles with F&O only in his trading portfolio. His holding time in core portfolio is usually 5 - 7 years," says a broker who has dealt for RD.RD is not much of a reader; he does stock research by himself - mostly by talking to a lot of people. "Market kya lag raha hai?" is the first question he'd ask any active market participant - big or small. RD, the good listener that he is, gauges market sentiment by talking to a lot of people. He doesn't share much or give his own opinion about stocks.When a flamboyant fund manager - now managing an offshore India fund from Singapore - asked RD about his views on market, RD shot back saying: "For me, price is god… price determines my view. So am bullish at market-open, bearish at noon trade and completely out of market towards market-close.""He gets the market-top right most of time… He may just be one or two days late or early in judging market-tops," says a broker and another close accomplice of RD. "He got the dotcom bust-up of 2000 and 2008 market crash quite right… but he failed to see the market recovery of 2009. He had expected the downfall to last a lot longer then," the broker says.RD was not very active in the market between 2001 and 2004 as he was busy setting up Avenue Supermarts in Mumbai and Gujarat. Several acquaintances have seen RD travelling in his Fiat Uno across Mumbai assessing good spots for his DMart stores. Some people say, RD used to work 12 - 14 hours every day of the week."His entrepreneurial pursuits bloomed pretty late in life… But he built a sound business indeed," says an old broker, whom RD contacted every day of the week in the mid-90s to understand the stock preferences of foreign institutional investors (FIIs had begun investing in Indian shares only then).RD's Avenue Supermarts has expanded its retail network from one store in 2002 to 118 stores in 2017, across 10 Indian states. The uniqueness of Avenue Supermarts is that it owns most of its stores. This strategy enables the company to capture future price appreciation of real estate as well. Avenue Supermarts shares have gained 1.62 times since its listing in the third week of March, and are currently trading at Rs 784-levels."The stock is clearly overpriced now… RD would have shorted the counter if this was not his company," says a prominent investor residing down south. "It's a case of price manipulation, I reckon… retail is a sunset business. Stores, as a retail business format, are closing down world-over. Even their premise that real estate (owned by Avenue) will go up is a misnomer. Real estate prices have not gone up since 2013," the investor adds.However BR Bagri, a Delhi-based broker, does not support this view. "Avenue Supermarts has a great business model and it will do well in the coming years." Bagri's father Babulal Bagri and RD's father Shivkishen Damani were business partners in the 60s and 70s. "We both hail from the same place in Bikaner… Bikaneris are very kind people; they're very sharp in business.Two years ago, RD is learnt to have offered shares of Avenue Supermarts to several of his friends at par value (at Rs 10 per share). If market grapevine is to be believed, his inner circle of friends received "gift deeds" (consisting shares) free of any charge. This, according to a broker, was RD's way to thank his friends for their help and support.RD considers Nemish Shah as his closest ally. So, when Shah applied for a large lot of Avenue Supermarts shares during the IPO, RD's joy knew no bounds. RD and Shah share great admiration for each other, but their investment preferences differ by a wide measure.Shah, who is known to be spiritually inclined, does not invest in liquor, tobacco, leather or meat processing companies. RD does not have such inhibitions. When an acquaintance asked RD why he invested in tamasic (evil, impure) businesses, RD replied: "When am on the trading table my job is to make money. My moral values come to the fore only when I decide how to spend the money I made."RD, now 61 years old, is a strict vegan and takes a holy river dip every kumbh season. Till about a few years ago, he used to walk down to a bunk shop near Industry House (Churchgate, Mumbai) to devour a paan after lunch. RD prefers to wear white and white as "it's one less decision to make every morning."The Harshad Mehta Scam was a watershed event in the lives of people who filled up the trading ring in the 80s and 90s. A good many moved on from being petty traders to value investors. A few turned religious. Greenhorns graduated to bigger leagues. Some, like RD himself, branched out to set up successful businesses. Only one thing remained constant - their love for money and their passion to make more of it every living day.