Chhota Rajan gang member arrested in Gujarat after 29 years

According to the Mumbai crime branch, the accused, Sakir Barkat Ali Lakhani, was convicted in the case and was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. However, he has been on the run since getting bail and after learning that the police had killed all his aides in encounters

Mumbai: A Chhota Rajan gang member, who had been on the run for 29 years, was arrested in Surat, Gujarat, on Friday for his alleged connection to an attack on policemen who foiled their attempt of robbery in Punjabi Camp area, Chembur, in 1994.

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According to the Mumbai crime branch, the accused, Sakir Barkat Ali Lakhani, was convicted in the case and was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. However, he has been on the run since getting bail and after learning that the police had killed all his aides in encounters.

“Lakhani, a resident of Antop Hill, was working as a real estate agent in Surat. After fleeing from Mumbai, he changed his identity and changed his appearance as well. But, after several years, he had become confident that he wouldn’t get caught,” Ghanashyam Nair, senior police inspector of Unit 5 of the crime branch, said.

“While we were searching for the accused, an old informer tipped us off regarding Lakhani, after which we picked him up. He was working as a real estate agent in Surat and had opened an office. After fleeing the city, he got married in Gujrat and even has one daughter and a son who are in their 20s now,” he added.

After jumping bail, Lakhani left his Antop Hill residence, stopped being in touch with relatives and even his gang members and completely started a new life, and it helped him stay away from the radar of the cops, police officials said, adding that, however, he recently got in touch with a few people as he became overconfident and thought police might have stopped searching for him.

Lakhani has ten cases of robbery, vehicle theft, and cheating registered against him in the city. While one of his accomplices was killed in an encounter in Bengaluru, his two associates were killed by encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.

“We produced Lakhani before the sessions court that had convicted him. The same court had issued a non-bailable standing warrant against him, as he was unavailable before it after jumping bail. The court sent him to judicial custody,” Nair said.