Mumbai: The crime branch is in the process of gathering evidence against incarcerated gangster Chhota Rajan that might lead to a fresh case against him with the Mumbai police. The last big case in which Rajan was booked was journalist J Dey murder case of June 2011. Arrest of Rajan’s close aide D.K. Rao (aka Ravi Mallesh Bohra), in an extortion case involving a redevelopment project has revealed that Rajan had allegedly targeted the complainant (the redevelopment consultant) in 2014. Investigations have revealed that Rajan spoke to the victim and threatened him allegedly via a phone call asking him to get out of the project. If the probe leads to credible evidence, this could lead to a fresh case against Rajan, who is currently CBI’s custody in New Delhi.
Police suspect that he may have demanded money as well. “The complainant consultant was threatened and we suspect a higher amount of extortion was demanded in 2014. The call was made via Rao’s phone, but it is unclear if it was a normal call or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call,” said a crime branch officer. After Rajan’s deportation from Indonesia in November 2015, the CBI took over around 70 cases pending against him in Maharashtra.
The investigators have learnt that Rao had been trying to get the consultant off the redevelopment project so that the gang could take a larger share of profits. However, when he showed resistance, Rajan decided to speak to him once to intimidate him.
Rao dialed to Rajan, who was then a fugitive shifting from one south east Asian country to other. “We have one of Rao’s mobile phone seized during his arrest. However, it seems he was using other numbers (khacha numbers) that are registered in others names and known to only few of the cronies,” added the officer.
The officials also revealed that most of the promoters are associated with Rajan’s Ganesh pandal in Tilak Nagar, Sahyadri Mitra Mandal. Investigators said that most of them are now untraceable following Rao’s arrest.
