New Delhi: Underworld don Chhota Rajan was finally brought back to India on Friday after being on the run for the past 27 years. Rajan landed at Delhi's Palam airport at around 5:30 AM from Indonesia and was taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters at Lodhi Road for interrogation.
Rajan was formally taken into the CBI custody with both Mumbai and Delhi Police transferring cases related to him to the central agency, sources said. Rajan will be produced in the magistrate court today, the sources said.
The sources added it is unlikely that Rajan's questioning will begin today and there will be no joint interrogation by any intelligence agency. Rajan will undergo preliminary medical check-up and his kidney treatment will need an immediate attention, the sources further said.
An AIIMS team is at the agency headquarters for Rajan's check-up and a CBI special magistrate will be present at around 11:30 AM as the agency does not want to take any chance with his security, said the sources, adding that except cases against him he can't contribute anything which is not known about D Company.
The sources said that Rajan will be allowed legal assistance as law permits and the government will provide him with a lawyer if he is not represented. Heavy security has been put in place outside the CBI headquarter.
According to the sources the first thing that Rajan did after reaching India was to kiss the ground.
The 55-year-old gangster, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, will be kept in the national capital where he will be questioned as he has been making claims of having more evidence to nail India's most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and his links with Pakistan's ISI.
Immediately after his arrival in an Indian Air Force Gulfstream-III aircraft from Indonesia's Bali, Rajan, who is considered as a 'friendly don' as he reportedly tipped Indian security agencies about the movement of Dawood and his aides, was whisked away under tight security.
Official cars with flashing lights accompanied by heavy-armed escort vans were seen leaving the Palam Technical Area around 5:30 AM, as anxious camerapersons and photographers made unsuccessful attempts to get a glimpse of the underworld don, who was in one of those vehicles with tinted glasses.
Rajan had told media in Bali that he was happy to return to his motherland and had rubbished reports that his arrest was orchestrated as he was facing threat from Dawood's men.
Ahead of his arrival in India, Maharashtra government made a surprise announcement of handing over all the cases related to the underworld don to the CBI as the agency had expertise in handling such cases. This move comes barely a few days after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made claims that Rajan will be brought only to Mumbai.
The Maharashtra government's sudden U-turn raised many eyebrows within the police establishment in the megalopolis as the Chief Minister himself had ordered for creation of a special cell inside Arthur Road prison with medial arrangement for dialysis. Rajan is on dialysis as his kidneys are not working.
Rajan, after his arrest, had expressed reservation over plans to lodge him in a Mumbai jail, fearing that his arch-rival Dawood Ibrahim may target him there. Till the formalities of CBI to take over the Maharashtra cases are completed, Rajan will be in the custody of Special Cell of Delhi Police which has six cases registered against him.
Interestingly, CBI had told the Bombay High Court, while hearing petitions filed by the family members of murdered rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, that it was severely understaffed and required officers from the Maharashtra Police to assist it in the probe.
Rajan was arrested on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner notice at Bali airport on October 25 after he had arrived in Indonesia from Australia. India was keen that the deportation takes place at the earliest and had put in a request to Indonesian authorities immediately after his arrest, sources said.
However, his deportation was deferred by a day as the international airport in Bali was shut down due to spewing of volcanic ash from a nearby mountain.
Immediately after his flight took off, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Gurjit Singh tweeted: "Chhota Rajan deported successfully to India. Delay due to Bali airport closure ends. Thanks Indonesia for support."
Rajan is wanted in over 75 crimes ranging from murder, extortion to smuggling and drug trafficking. Mumbai Police has nearly 70 cases registered against Rajan, including 20 of murder, four cases under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, one under Prevention of Terrorism Act and over 20 cases under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
Delhi Police has six cases registered against Rajan, who was a close aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood at one point but split before the 1993 Mumbai blasts were conspired.
In 2000, there was an attempt on Rajan's life when Dawood's men tracked him down to a hotel in Bangkok but he managed a dramatic escape by jumping from the first floor of the hotel. Rajan had fled India in 1988 for Dubai.
(With additional information from PTI)
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