The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) got the custody of gangster Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan just in the nick of time. The United Emirates of Arab (UAE) had also sought Rajan’s custody in connection with a sensational murder in Dubai in 2003.
In 2003, Chhota Rajan had orchestrated the killing of Sunil Sawant alias Sautya, considered to be a close confidant of Dawood Ibrahim. After a fatal attack on Rajan in Bangkok in 2000 by the Chhota Shakeel gang in which his aide Rohit Verma was killed, Rajan went on a killing spree, targeting Dawood’s henchmen on suspicion that they leaked information about him. Rajan also killed Sautya outside a hotel in Dubai in a sensational shootout. A case of murder and gangland killing was registered by the Dubai police and since then Rajan has been shown as an absconding accused. A year later, Rajan also orchestrated the killing of another D-company associate Sharad Shetty in Dubai.
Highly placed sources said that in October this year, the UAE processed their red corner notice to all possible countries. “Just when the news of Rajan was flashed and when we (Indian police team) got our papers cleared for Rajan’s deportation, we learnt from the Bali authorities that UAE had also put up their case for Rajan’s deportation to their country,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.
He added that had the UAE’s red corner notice come a little earlier, there would have been a major hurdle in getting Rajan deported to India just like the case of Chhota Shakeel aide Mudassar Hussain alias Munna Jhinghada from Singapore. For the last five years, India and Pakistan have locked horns in a diplomatic tussle over getting Jhingada’s custody.