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LUCKNOW/ALLAHABAD: The prospect of the deportation of underworld don Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan from Bali, Indonesia, is likely to change equations in the crime world in UP.
Already, the police in the state are worried as the Rajan gang members lodged in various jails in UP have started flexing their muscles, making extortion calls and threatening rivals by using the don’s name to multiply the fear factor. “Rather than giving up the ground after Rajan’s arrest, the gang, it seems, has decided to go on the offensive,” said a police officer.
The three sharp shooters — Indresh Kumar Singh, Mohammad Salim and Ramesh Kumar Bind — arrested by the STF in Allahabad on Tuesday were in touch with Azad Ansari alias Ejaz, a member of the Rajan gang lodged in Naini jail. The trio told the cops that they had planned to speed up extortion once Rajan landed in India.
“The name of Rajan is enough to force businessmen to hand over the demanded amount,” Salim said.
When Rajan was on the run, the gang was lying low. Once it became clear that he would be lodged in a prison in Mumbai, the gang was back to making extortion and threat calls to businessman, real estate owners and contractors.
“It seems Rajan in jail will be more of a nuisance for the police rather than when he was hopping from one country to another in search of safe hideouts,” the police officer said.
The UP Special Task Force (STF) officers recorded the conversation between members of the Rajan gang based in Mumbai and Allahabad through electronic surveillance. The Allahabad-based aide was told to start recruiting sharp shooters in order to threaten businessmen in Mumbai.
The recruiter was assured help, arms, ammunition, hideout, safe escape, lawyers to fight the case if the shooters were arrested. He was also told payment would be made after accomplishing the task, according to police sources.
“We will spend Rs 40,000 on the shooters and extort Rs 3 crore from a Bhiwandi-based cable operator,” a Rajan aide told the recruiter.
The half-an-hour conversation clearly shows members of Rajan gang are elated over his deportation to India. The STF has alerted the central intelligence agencies about the activities of the gang.
After parting ways with Dawood Ibrahim in 1993, Chhota Rajan followed in the footsteps of his mentors. He sent his trusted aides to UP for hiring sharpshooters as well as supplying weapon and ammunition.
Around 30 members of the Rajan gang are from UP, a majority from the districts of east UP including Allahabad, Jaunpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Lucknow.
Eastern Uttar Pradesh is considered a nursery of shooters who are ready to join any gang, which pays and protects them well. Sources in STF team informed that Chhota Rajan’s aide Aijaz Ansari is serving a life sentence at Naini jail in connection with triple murder at Sultanpur some years back.
Aijaz’s uncle Anis Eda was a close aide of Chhota Rajan in Mumbai and used to extort cash from builders and other big traders.
Aijaz became a sharp shooter for Chhota Rajan after one Anis was murdered allegedly on the instructions of Dawood Ibrahim some years after the Mumbai bomb blasts.
After his arrest, Aijaz was lodged at Naini jail from where he was now operating his extortion racket. Aijaz had hired several youngsters and petty criminals for threatening the businessmen and builders.
THE UP STF OFFICERS RECORDED THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE RAJAN GANG BASED IN MUMBAI AND ALLAHABAD THROUGH ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE.