<p>Since May, city police have put behind bars at least 15 members of the Chhota Rajan gang.<br /><br />Rajan's close aide D K Rao, bookie Vinod Asrani, shooters Rohit Thangappan alias Satish Kalya, Umed-Ul-Rehman and other active members Anil Waghmode, and Aasid Jaan Shaikh were among those arrested in the past two months.<br /><br />"With the arrest of these key associates of Rajan, we believe that we have cracked down or curtailed his activities in the city in a big way. Every day we put our all efforts to catch the wanted accused, no matter to which gang they belong to," Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.<br /><br />"As his activities increased in the past few months, we have taken it as a challenge and determined to nab his aides involved in the various crimes," he said.<br /><br />The underworld don was involved in sensational killing of the city-based senior investigative journalist Jyotirmoy Dey (56), who was shot dead by four motorcycle-borne assailants in suburban Powai on June 11.<br /><br />Another instance was of firing outside underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar's residence on Pakmodia Street in south Mumbai on May 17, in which his bodyguard-cum-driver Arif Syed Abu Bukha was killed. Kaskar was not present at the spot when the incident happened. <br /><br />"Before these two cases, Rajan had also masterminded a number of crimes and we had arrested all those who executed the crimes here at the behest of Rajan," Roy added.<br /><br />D K Rao, Vinod Asrani, Rohit Thangappan alias Satish Kalya, Umed-Ul-Rehman and other active members Anil Waghmode, and Aasid Jaan Shaikh had been working for Rajan for years and the arrest of these people was certainly a major setback for his activities, he said.<br /><br />Another IPS officer on condition of anonymity said, "These two sensational cases have created fear among the common people and we had faced flak from all the quarters."<br />Soon after Kaskar's firing that grabbed national headlines, Dey's killing had put the city police in a tight spot.<br /><br />With firing outside Kaskar's residence, it was criticised that police were unable to prevent gang war in the city, the officer said.<br /><br />"Later, protests from the journalist fraternity demanding immediate arrest of the accused involved in the Dey's killing or hand over the case to the CBI have made us to work round-the-clock to catch the culprits," he said.<br /><br />In a concerted effort, the police have activated their informers' network, he said, adding, "Our efforts have paid off a fortnight after Dey's killing as Rajan's men involved in the crime were arrested".<br /><br />Police had arrested Rajan's eight aides including Vinod Asrani, Rohee Thangappan Joseph and Anil Waghmode in Dey's killing.<br /><br />Whereas, two shooters Syyed Ali and Indra Khatri had been arrested near J J Hospital while they were trying to escape after the firing outside Kaskar's residence on May 17.<br /><br />"After much efforts, five more including D K Rao, Umed-ur-Rehman and Aasid Jaan Shaikh were arrested," the officer said. <br /><br /></p>
<p>Since May, city police have put behind bars at least 15 members of the Chhota Rajan gang.<br /><br />Rajan's close aide D K Rao, bookie Vinod Asrani, shooters Rohit Thangappan alias Satish Kalya, Umed-Ul-Rehman and other active members Anil Waghmode, and Aasid Jaan Shaikh were among those arrested in the past two months.<br /><br />"With the arrest of these key associates of Rajan, we believe that we have cracked down or curtailed his activities in the city in a big way. Every day we put our all efforts to catch the wanted accused, no matter to which gang they belong to," Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.<br /><br />"As his activities increased in the past few months, we have taken it as a challenge and determined to nab his aides involved in the various crimes," he said.<br /><br />The underworld don was involved in sensational killing of the city-based senior investigative journalist Jyotirmoy Dey (56), who was shot dead by four motorcycle-borne assailants in suburban Powai on June 11.<br /><br />Another instance was of firing outside underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar's residence on Pakmodia Street in south Mumbai on May 17, in which his bodyguard-cum-driver Arif Syed Abu Bukha was killed. Kaskar was not present at the spot when the incident happened. <br /><br />"Before these two cases, Rajan had also masterminded a number of crimes and we had arrested all those who executed the crimes here at the behest of Rajan," Roy added.<br /><br />D K Rao, Vinod Asrani, Rohit Thangappan alias Satish Kalya, Umed-Ul-Rehman and other active members Anil Waghmode, and Aasid Jaan Shaikh had been working for Rajan for years and the arrest of these people was certainly a major setback for his activities, he said.<br /><br />Another IPS officer on condition of anonymity said, "These two sensational cases have created fear among the common people and we had faced flak from all the quarters."<br />Soon after Kaskar's firing that grabbed national headlines, Dey's killing had put the city police in a tight spot.<br /><br />With firing outside Kaskar's residence, it was criticised that police were unable to prevent gang war in the city, the officer said.<br /><br />"Later, protests from the journalist fraternity demanding immediate arrest of the accused involved in the Dey's killing or hand over the case to the CBI have made us to work round-the-clock to catch the culprits," he said.<br /><br />In a concerted effort, the police have activated their informers' network, he said, adding, "Our efforts have paid off a fortnight after Dey's killing as Rajan's men involved in the crime were arrested".<br /><br />Police had arrested Rajan's eight aides including Vinod Asrani, Rohee Thangappan Joseph and Anil Waghmode in Dey's killing.<br /><br />Whereas, two shooters Syyed Ali and Indra Khatri had been arrested near J J Hospital while they were trying to escape after the firing outside Kaskar's residence on May 17.<br /><br />"After much efforts, five more including D K Rao, Umed-ur-Rehman and Aasid Jaan Shaikh were arrested," the officer said. <br /><br /></p>