Chhota Rajan faces 6 MCOCA cases

Most recent one is Pakmodia Street firing, while oldest dates back to 1999

Chhota Rajan — alleged underworld gangster and former aide of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar — has at least six serious criminal cases against him in the city where the Mumbai police has secured a conviction and he is a wanted accused in the cases. Incidentally, the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA) has been applied in all these cases.

The most recent case is the firing on Pakmodia Street where Rajan had allegedly attempted to kill Kaskar’s brother Iqbal but ended up killing his bodyguard. Rajan’s men were convicted in August this year and given life sentences. However, D.K. Rao, an aide of Rajan charged with financing the crime, was acquitted.

The oldest case in this dates back to 1999 when the Nirmal Nagar police arrested one Jeetendra Shah who had tried to extort Rs 25 lakh from a small businessman, allegedly at the behest of Rajan, who was an established don back then. Shah was convicted in the case in 2001.

A police officer from Nirmal Nagar police station said, “Shah has been convicted in the case and Rajan’s name is there in the FIR along with his (Shah’s) confessional statement.” The conviction is under Section 387 (Putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion.) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC and MCOCA.

Another case is with the crime branch unit IX in the western suburbs where Rajan’s men shot at Dharamraj Ramnarayan alias Bacchi Singh, a controversial builder, in 2008. Singh, who survived the attack, is said to be a Shakeel aide and has a criminal background. “In this case there are witnesses who are ready to depose against Rajan and there are confessional statements of two accused who have named him. A conviction for Rajan in this case is quite possible,” said a crime branch source.

There are three more murder cases of which the crime branch has not shared the details. One of them is from Dahisar, where in 1999 a person was shot dead by Rajan’s men. Another case is registered with Gamdevi police station in 2001 at Grant Road, where Rajan’s men shot dead another person.

In the third, with the crime branch unit VI a person had been shot dead in 2004. In all three cases, a conviction has been secured and Rajan’s name is in the FIR. The cases have been registered under the IPC, Arms Act and MCOCA for murder, use of firearm and criminal conspiracy.