MUMBAI: Gangster
Rajan Nikalje alias
Chhota Rajan, who allegedly enjoys the blessings of Indian intelligence agencies, was confident of getting acquitted in journalist
J Dey's murder case for lack of evidence.
According to police sources, though more than five dozens cases are registered against Rajan, he was directly involved in only a handful of them. And since his deportation from Indonesia in 2015, Rajan has been sending messages to his cronies and a few builders from the eastern suburbs that as almost all the cases are very old, it would be difficult for police to nail him and he would soon come out on bail, sources said.
"He was even confident that he would be acquitted in the J Dey murder case as there was no direct evidence. However, the journalist fraternity stood by the prosecution and gave voice samples of Rajan's live TV interview where he openly admitted to have ordered Dey's killing claiming that the latter was trying to tarnish his gang's image," said a police officer. This proved to be concrete evidence against Rajan.
This is his first conviction in a major case. As many as 64 cases relating to murder, attempt to murder, extortion were registered against Rajan between 1978 and 2011.
Police said they are confident that he would be convicted for the murder of Chhote Miyan, a bookie and associate of Chhota Shakeel, who was shot dead in Nagpada in 2012. "We are also hopeful that he would be convicted for the attack on hotelier BR Shetty and
Malad bookie Ajay Gosalia. The judgement in these cases are expected soon," said Himanshu Roy, additional director general of police.
Senior police officials said Rajan always tried to portray himself as a "patriotic don" after his split with
Dawood Ibrahim following the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Sources say that the intelligence agencies have in the past used the gangster against Dawood.