CBI to probe cases against Chhota Rajan

In a significant development, the Maharashtra government on Thursday night handed over cases involving Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

This was announced at a hurriedly-convened news conference addressed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi and Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmed Javed.

The development comes a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited New Delhi and spoke to top officials at the national capital. Formalities were completed at a high-level meeting of police officials chaired by Bakshi at the Mumbai Police commissionerate.

Rajan, 55, was arrested in Bali in Indonesia on October 25, after he landed there from Australia, in a Garuda flight. Rajan is an arch-rival of Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and, according to reports, had helped the Mumbai Police. A team of officials of the CBI and Crime Branch of Mumbai Police is bringing him to Mumbai.

According to Bakshi, Rajan is being brought here under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, of which India is a member-state and a signatory on May 5, 2011.

“The Maharashtra government has decided to hand over the cases to the CBI as it is the nodal agency. There are cases registered against him in Mumbai, elsewhere in Maharashtra, other states and some other countries. We will render all help to the CBI,” Bakshi said.

He added  the CBI would take a call whether to take him to New Delhi or bring him to Mumbai. Javed said that since CBI is the nodal agency under the convention. “The case is being handed over to the CBI because of its expertise in handling trans-national crimes,” said Bakshi.