Mumbai: On Monday, a team of investigators from India questioned the underworld don in Bali for the first time after his arrest. The fugitive gangster Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan is likely to be deported back to India by the middle of the week, it has been reported.
A special team comprising officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Mumbai Police, Delhi Special Cell and the External Affairs Ministry had reached Bali on Sunday to complete the deportation formalities. The Indonesian police was expected to soon submit details before a court about the cases in which Rajan was wanted in India.
“If the lawyer engaged by Rajan does not oppose his deportation to India, we will hand him over to the Indian police team. The entire process is likely to be completed in the next two-three days,” said an Indonesian official. Rajan’s lawyer Fransico Prassar also reportedly met him at the detention centre a few times on Monday.
The underworld don is wanted in at least 75 cases in Mumbai alone. The 55-year old criminal was arrested from a plush resort in Bali upon his arrival from Sydney on October 25.
While the Central government was yet to decide about the agency Rajan should be handed over to first, the Mumbai Police that has the maximum number of cases against him had already prepared a list of questions.
The Mumbai Crime Branch was expected to complete its preparation of the documents and case papers by Tuesday, and finalise the case under which his custody will be sought first. Sources said that Rajan’s custody might be first sought in relation to either the J Dey murder case or the Pakmodia Street firing case of May 2011.
Choosing to be anonymous, a senior official said, “After the J Dey murder case, the Rajan gang has been almost neutralised but there are many unknown links. For example, on people who run his hawala operations. Rajan would be able to provide the exact details both nationally and internationally as he operated in many offshore locations.”
Mumbai Crime Branch also plans to quiz Rajan about the sourcing of the sophisticated weapons used by the underworld in the 1990s, suspected to be from Afghanistan or the LTTE.
Other than the J Dey murder case in which investigators hope Rajan will reveal the real motive, another intriguing case is the Pakmodia Street firing case. In May 2011, two gunmen allegedly opened fire outside the house of Iqbal Kaskar, fugitive underworld criminal Dawood Ibrahim’s brother, on Pakmodia Street in South Mumbai, killing Kaskar’s bodyguard-cum-driver Arif Syed Abu Bukha. The firing was allegedly ordered by Chhota Rajan.
Meanwhile, India and Indonesia on Monday decided not to undertake exchange of letters to put in place an extradition treaty after they agreed that the agreement was already in place since last year.
(Inputs from PTI)
