Chhota Rajan has been given a life sentence for his role in the murder of journalist J Dey. Jyotirmoy Dey better remembered as J Dey was gunned down by four men on bikes who were acting on orders of Chhota Rajan.
Journalists across the board took to streets to protest the murder. They sought protection from the government.
While Rajan will cool his heels in jail for life, scribe Jigna Vora and another suspect have been acquitted of any role in the murder for lack of evidence. 58 year old Rajan has been in custody ever since 2015 when he was extradited from Indonesia.
Along with him eight other of his aides have been convicted. One suspect is still being sought by police, while another died in 2015.
Interestingly while 155 witnesses testified there have been no eye witnesses to the murder.
Police versions suggest the person who put together the operation, was Kaliya. Rajan told him weapon and money for the killing would be provided. At that time, Kaliya was not told about the target.
Rs 2 lakh was paid to Kaliya by Rajan’s courier in Chembur. In May 2011, Kaliya went to Nainital and collected a US-made .32 bore revolver and 25 rounds of Czech make from accused Deepak Sisodiya and absconding accused Narayan Singh Bisht.
Kaliya when well stocked for giving shape to the murder contacted Waghmode, a shooter who was responsible to gather men. A seven-member hit squad was ready in no time. None knew the target.
Dey was reportedly called to the Uma Palace Bar along with a witness at Mulund on the evening of June 7, 2011, so Dey could be identified by accused Anil Waghmode and Arun Dhake.
A string of teams had been on the lookout for Dey in the area. Dey was spotted at 1.30 pm near R-Mall circle in Powai and the team was alerted. Following Dey for a while they were on the lookout for the right time, till he took a turn near Crisil House and reached Spectra Building in Powai. Kaliya riding pillion with a biker sped towards Dey’s bike. Five rounds were fired on Dey, resulting in his death.
The probe initially dealt by the Mumbai Police was gradually handed over to federal detectives after the arrest of Rajan.
It was in 2011, after the murder of J Dey, that Rajan rang up journalists Jitendra Dixit, Sunilkumar Singh, Nikhil Dixit and Aariz Chandra at different times from some foreign countries. In his conversations with all these journalists, he had ‘accepted’ the fact that he got Dey killed since he was ‘miffed’ over his articles and proximity to Dawood. Rajan even ‘regretted’ killing Dey, claiming that ‘someone’ had misinform- ed him about the slain journalist.
Weeks after journalist J Dey’s murder, Mumbai police detected involvement of an underworld don, a scribe, a politician, a builder-bookie and some history-sheeters. Cops in 2011 arrested Rohee Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kaliya, Abhijeet Kasharam Shinde, Arun Janardhan Dake, Sachin Suresh Gaikwad, Anil Bhanudas Waghmode, Nilesh Narayan Shendge alias Bablu and Mangesh Damodar Agawane. A prize money of Rs 5 lakh was given to the assailants.
Based on their questioning, the police arrested three more accused — Vinod Asrani, Deepak Sisodia and Paulson Joseph.
The court framed charges against 11 accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections of 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention), along with relevant provisions of the MCOCA and the Arms Act.
When the trial commenced in the case, the four scribes responded to the summons of the special court. The four journalists stepped into the witness box and deposed against Rajan.
The CBI tracked his movements and reportedly informed the police in Indonesia and Australia about him.
Wanted in India for 17 murders, drug trafficking and arms smuggling he had flown a Garuda Indonesia from Sydney, where he stayed for a month and was later caught.
A former aide-turned-rival of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, Rajan had managed to evade the law for good 20 years.
It all started when cops in Bali got a tipoff that that a murderer was travelling under the identity of Mohan Kumar.
The law enforcers soon realized that this was none other than Chhota Rajan.
Reports even reveal that there are big suspicions that Rajan has also been hand in glove in the elimination of Nepal lawmaker Mirza Dilshad Beg, who was shot dead in Kathmandu in 1988.
Rajan before his arrest and consequent extradition had been shuttling between Australia, Malaysia and Cambodia since 2000. Rajan had also fallen prey to an assassination attempt by Dawood when he was tracked to a hotel in Bangkok. He managed to escape via the roof.
Reportage spells out that Rajan has functioned in the past using three passports. The gang of Chhota Rajan has been considered the number two after D Company. Chhota Rajan’s real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje an accused of several murders, extortion and drug trafficking.
Grown up in Maximum City he went on to be part of one of the most dreaded crime syndicates in the city.
Conversations in the recent past with the top cops handling the underworld shed light on how not only will the multiple cases against him now will be solved but it will also reinforce India’s case against Dawood Ibrahim.
It is widely believed that that an assassination attempt on Dawood Ibrahim in 2005 when his daughter was getting married was courtesy Rajan.
Having written under the byline JDey, the scribe had covered the underworld extensively. He published several stories on Mumbai’s underworld and its gangsters, including Rajan.
India has officially maintained that Dawood, wanted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, has bases in Karachi and Islamabad.
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