Police gear up as Chhota Rajan to be brought to Mumbai

Mumbai: The Mumbai police was gearing itself to take charge of mafia don Rajendra S. Nikhalje, alias Chhota Rajan, who is likely to be brought here very soon, Police Commissioner Ahmed Javed said here on Tuesday.

Chhota Rajan, 55, was arrested by the Indonesian police on a request from India's CBI in Bali on October 26 following a tip-off by the Australian Federal Police.

Javed told mediapersons that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is the nodal agency for InterPol in India, is finalizing the arrangements to bring back the mafia don who has been absconding from India for nearly two decades.

When asked about the possible date of bringing the absconder don to face Indian laws, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis declined comment.

Presently, the Indian authorities were busy making necessary arrangements in Indonesia to bring him back to the country from where he has been absconding since nearly two decades.

The mafia don made an embarrassing revelation on Monday in Indonesia that "certain Mumbai police officials are in league" with his arch-rival, the absconder don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Claiming that he was "tortured" by the Mumbai Police in the past, Chhota Rajan demanded that he should be taken to New Delhi instead.

Javed dismissed the charges, terming them as "baseless" and asserted that no police official is linked with Dawood.

However, the Mumbai Police authorities were making preparations for Chhota Rajan's impending return, and according to tentative indications, he may be lodged in the famous 'Anda Cell' (oval cell) inside the Arthur Road Central Jail premises.

The high-security, fortified and solitary Anda Cell was specially created to lodge Pakistani terrorist, M. Ajmal Kasab, who was nabbed after the 26/11, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, underwent trial and was later hanged in 2012 in Pune's Yerawada Central Jail.

Javed declined to comment on the issue, but said that Chhota Rajan "would be kept in a safe and secure place".

The city police was waiting to lay its hands on Chhota Rajan to solve a variety of serious crimes for which he is wanted since long, including the killing of veteran Mumbai journalist Jyotirmoy Dey near his Powai home on June 11, 2011.

The top police officer said the mafia don was wanted for around 70-75 cases, but the CBI would decide when Chhota Rajan would be handed over to the Mumbai police.

Chhota Rajan's arrest is billed as the biggest victory for Indian law enforcers after the nabbing of another mafia don, Abu Salem Ansari, in Portugal in September 2002 and later his deportation here in November 2005.