Gangster Chhota Rajan, who was arrested from Bali airport in Indonesia on 25 October, said on Tuesday that some cops in Mumbai Police are working with India's most wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Mafia don Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan further alleged that some cops in Mumbai Police had tortured him in the past and appealed to the government to ensure he is not met with injustice in India.
"Mumbai police have tortured me a lot... Some cops in Mumbai police are working with Dawood Ibrahim," Rajan told the media.
Rajan is facing charges in a total of 75 cases, including the murder of veteran Mumbai journalist J Dey in Mumbai on 11 June, 2011. However, he claimed that all these cases are false.
Chhota Rajan entered the mafia world in the mid-1970s and operated from Chembur and surroundings in Mumbai. He later joined Dawood's D-Company and became a trusted henchman of the most wanted gangster, IANS reported.
Rajan turned his back on Dawood after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and fled India in 1995. Since then, he was on the run until the Indonesian Police arrested him earlier this month.
Some cops from Mumbai police are working with Dawood, says Chhota Rajan pic.twitter.com/XtyZAyPbgL
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 3, 2015
Delhi Police to get Rajan's custody?
According to media reports, the Central government is mulling handing over the custody of Rajan to Delhi Police, which reports directly to the Centre. The threat to Rajan from D-Company and suspicion that some personnel in Mumbai Police have connection with the underworld don are the two reasons behind the government's decision.
According to The Times of India report, a team of Mumbai Police had in 2005 allegedly taken into custody two of Rajan's associate -- Vicky Malhotra and his aide Farid Tanasha -- following a tip-off from D-Company. The Mumbai Police refused to release them even though an intelligence officer told them that the duo was working for the Indian intelligence.
Another report in The Statesman said the Indian intelligence is also worried that some cops in Mumbai Police might have been passing on information on Rajan to Dawood Ibrahim.
"We have told the Mumbai police to be on very high alert and provide the best security possible when he is brought down to India. There is a possibility that some in Mumbai police pass info to Dawood," according to the daily's sources.
Fearing attacks on Rajan by D-Company, the government wants to keep him in Delhi for further investigation.
"The security and intelligence agencies are fearing that sharpshooters hired by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim may target him (Chhota Rajan) if he is brought to Mumbai or worse he might be bumped off inside a prison," the source said.
"In all likelihood, he will be taken to Delhi," the source added.
A senior Delhi Police officer has said that the Australian authorities, which assisted in the arrest of Rajan in Bali, have revealed that Dawood might try to kill Rajan. The Australian authorities had informed the Indonesian Police about Rajan's presence in Bali.
A joint team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Mumbai and Delhi Police are in Bali to bring Rajan back to India by Tuesday or Wednesday.
