Dreaded Mumbai underworld don Chhota Rajan, alias Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, was flown in to Delhi early on Friday from Bali, Indonesia, from where he was deported late Thursday after his arrest there late last month. Rajan was taken into custody by a joint CBI-Delhi police team shortly after the Indonesians handed him over to the Indian aujthorities.
The 55-year-old gangster landed in the Palam technical area along with a seven-member security team, including members of the Delhi police’s elite special cell and teh crime branch of the Mumbai police, in an IAF Gulfstream-III aircraft. Immediately after his arrival, he was taken into preventive custody by the CBI’s Interpol division. The CBI will keep him in its custody at least till it completes all the legal formalities for registering a case of allegedly procuring a fake passport and takes over 70-odd cases handed over to it by the Maharashtra government. Armed commandos have been stationed at the lockup at the CBI headquarters in the CGO Complex near Lodhi Road, where Rajan has been kept.
Rajan was extensively questioned by a joint team of the CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and the Delhi police officials at the CBI headquarters. “If required, CBI officials may conduct lie-detection and brain-mapping tests on Rajan”, a source said. Sources said that due to the intense security threat, Rajan, who has reportedly tipped off Indian security agencies on the movements of Dawood Ibrahim and his close aides, is unlikely to be taken to a Delhi court. Instead, a magistrate will be brought to the CBI headquarters for his remand. The sources said they wouldn’t risk moving Rajan around too much in the city and his trial is likely to held through video-conferencing.
After his arrest in Bali on October 25, India had pressed for his early deportation, that, however, got delayed due to the closure of Bali airport as volcanic ash was spewing from a nearby mountain. Rajan was arrested on the basis of an Interpol red corner notice at Bali airport. Immediately after his flight took off, India’s ambassador to Indonesia Gurjit Singh tweeted: “ChotaRajan deported successfully to India. Delay due to Bali airport closure ends. Thanks Indonesia for support.” Rajan is likely to be kept for some time in Delhi, where he will also be questioned by sleuths of various investigative agencies about his claims of having further evidence to nail India’s most wanted terrorist, Dawood Ibrahim, and his links with Pakistan’s ISI.
In a brief statement, the CBI spokesperson said Rajan has been successfully brought to India from Indonesia. “He is in the custody of CBI-Interpol. Legal formalities are in progress.” The spokesperson said he was medically fit and did not need dialysis. “Rajan does not require any kind of medical intervention”, said the spokesperson. This statement comes after the Maharashtra government made arrangements for dialysis after reports that his kidneys were not working properly. After his arrest in Bali, Rajan had voiced reservations over plans to keep him in a jail in Mumbai, fearing that Dawood’s associates may target him there.
There was high drama as the CBI, anticipating a large media presence, first used two convoys, one being a decoy, to ward them off. As the press started following the two convoys, a third motorcade left the airport area from another gate and sped towards the CBI headquarters well away from the media glare.
Giving details about the don’s arrest in Indonesia, sources said that when asked to step out of the line at Bali airport by the immigration authorities and identify himself, Rajan said his real name was Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje and not Mohan Kumar, as mentioned in his passport. They said this confirmed the Indonesian authorities’ suspicion that he was the person against whom the red corner notice was issued.
