India Don Chhota Rajan Captured And Deported After 27 Years On The Run

India don Chhota Rajan (“Little Rajan”) has been on the run from authorities for the last 27 years, in attempts to evade various charges, including 20 murders, extortion, drug smuggling and terrorism. His allusion ended last week when he was arrested in Bali. The Indonesian authorities were tipped off by Australian police, who warned that Rajan was on the island, using a passport with the name “Mohan Kumar.” Rajan was deported back to his native India early this morning where he will be tried for his crimes.

It has been decided that Rajan, 55,  will never be handed over to the Mumbai Police. It is believed that his life would be in danger in their custody, because some may be in cahoots with his partner-turned mortal enemy, the infamous Dawood Ibrahim, mastermind behind the dastardly 1993 Bombay bombings. According to the Hindustan Times:

Sources added that Rajan and his gang were used as a weapon to target the Dawood syndicate and in the process Rajan claimed to be an intelligence asset in his “fight” against the “anti-national” alleged conspirator in the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

Rajan was born Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje in central Mumbai. He got his start in the criminal underworld as a movie ticket scalper in the 1980s. He grew as a criminal under the tutelage of Fajan Nair aka “Bada Rajan (Big Rajan).” After Bada

Rajan’s assassination, Chhota Rajan took his spot and got his new name/title.

Rajan formed a brief alliance with Dawood Ibrahim and Arun Gawli. A split occurred after the murder of Gawli’s older brother, Pap Gawli, in a drug deal-gone-awry. Rajan relocated to Dubai in 1988 and never returned. Rajan and Dawood officially fell out after the 1993 Bombay bombings, and a bloody war between Rajan’s gang and Dawood’s D-Company. In 1994, Rajan’s gang (with the help of a D-Company member) lured one of Dawood’s top lieutenants to a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was tortured to death.

Dawood didn’t catch up to Rajan until 2000, when D-Company tracked him down at another Bangkok hotel. Posing as a pizza man, the assassin murdered Rajan’s top hitman and his wife. Rajan escaped by jumping out of the window of the first floor room.  According to Dawood, Rajan broke his back during the escape and was taken to the hospital. More bodies were dropped as a result of this beef in the years following.

The cases of Chhota Rajan are being handled by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). According to Maharashtra additional chief secretary KP Bakshi, “We will provide all necessary help required from the state which includes Mumbai Police, and other districts of Maharashtra. The decision has no connection with the allegations made on Mumbai Police by Rajan.”

Read here about the arrest of India’s “Godmother of Ghatkopar.”