
Chhota Rajan: Scheming, ambitious, calculating underworld don
Uncompromising, ambitious and viciously calculating are some of the qualities that made 55-year-old Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje, also known as Chhota Rajan, the boss of a notorious underworld gang that emerged in the early 1990s and became famous as ‘Nana company’.
Rajan – who was born to a lower middle class family and grew up in a suburban chawl in Chembur – began by commiting petty crimes along with his mentor, Rajan Nair who also goes by the name Bada Rajan.
His mentor then initiated him into black marketing cinema tickets outside a cinema theatre in the chawl, which brought Chotta Rajan in conflict with a well-known gambler named Yashwant Jadhav.
Jadhav hired thugs to drive chhota Rajan and Rajan Nair out of his territory, pushing them to approach dreaded underworld gangster Vardarajan Mudaliar. The move helped them seize a great deal of Jadhav’s territory.
Jadhav in turn approached well-know gangster Abdul Qunju to counter Mudaliar’s threat. Qunju arranged a brazen ambush in 1982 in which Bada Rajan was killed, forcing chhota Rajan to retreated into the shadows and waiting silently to strike back.
Read | Rajnath says gangster arrested in Indonesia is Chhota Rajan
In 1985, Qunju was killed in one of the most audacious attacks in Mumbai’s underworld history. Rajan calmly walked up to Qunju during a cricket match and shot him from a close range.
The brazen manner of the murder saw Dawood Ibrahim offering him a place in his gang. Rajan accepted the offer and became a key lieutenant of Dawood after he helped kill Samad Khan, the fiery nephew of former underworld don Karim Lala.
After Dawood left the country in 1984, chhota Rajan was given charge of running the gang in Mumbai. Later, even he moved to Dubai and remotely operated the gang.
But as Shakeel Ahmed Babu, also known as chhota Shakeel, gained prominence in D-Company, chhota Rajan took a back seat. He plotted to branch out of D-Company systematically, and used the 1993 blasts as the platform to do so.
Rajan’s separation from Dawood saw one of the bloodiest episodes of Mumbai’s underworld where members of rival gangs or businessmen who owed allegiance to either of the gangs were hunted down on the busy streets of Mumbai.
In September 2000, chhota Shakeel carefully engineered a plan to eliminate Rajan in Bangkok, and almost succeeded. The attack planned in a hotel room in Bangkok saw his right hand man Rohit Verma being killed. Rajan escaped with three bullets.
After that, Rajan was on the back foot, until he engineered a shootout outside Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar house in Mumbai’s Pakmodia Street in 2011. Rajan was believed to be operating from South-East Asian countries, and is believed to have been helping Indian intelligence agencies.

Disagreeing with govt is not sedition, says SC
- India’s sedition law has an interesting past — it was introduced by the British in 1870, decided to be dropped from the Constitution in 1948 after discussions of the Constituent Assembly.

Centre plans tourism push to mark 75 years of Independence
- India will also promote tourism by celebrating 2022 as the Visit India Year through a promotion campaign highlighting India’s strengths like heritage, culture, art, wellness and yoga.

2 held for murder of sexual assault survivor’s father
- The ADG has constituted teams of police personnel from Aligarh to assist the Hathras police.

Teen held for murder of girl after rape bid
- The incident took place on Sunday afternoon, when the girl went to a wheat field, owned by the family of the accused, to collect fodder and water.

Only Centre can enforce new digital media rules: I&B ministry to states
- The provisions under the new rules relate to the code of ethics for digital news publishers, setting up of a grievance redressal system and the requirement of disclosure of information to Centre, the ministry said.

Spectrograph designed for Uttarakhand telescope
- The instrument will support the 3.6 metre Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) in Uttarakhand, an official release from the department of science said on Wednesday.

‘Ceasefire need of the hour... desirable for both India, Pak’: Lt-Gen BS Raju
- Lt-Gen BS Raju said a quiet LoC will allow us to address the challenge of terrorism in a focused manner.

ED begins probe against Franklin Templeton
- The central agency has registered a case on the basis of an FIR registered by Chennai Economic Offences Wing in September last year.

Experts slam claim that human activity not behind recent flood
- Dhyani added that the burden on the ecology due to construction on Himalayan slopes made the region prone to disasters.

Supreme Court issues notice on Gautam Navlakha’s plea for default bail
- Navlakha claimed in his petition filed through advocate Shadan Farasat that the 90-day period for filing of charge sheet was over and he was entitled to default bail under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

GJM leader close to Bimal Gurung arrested under POCSO in Sikkim
- Lama was being considered as the GJM candidate for the Kalimpong assembly seat in the coming polls later this month.

Centre differs with SC on additional courts for cheque bounce cases
- Unhappy with the response, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to appear in the case along with Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikramjeet Banerjee, who presented the note to the Court.

Man in Maharashtra wanted to ride horse to office to overcome spinal problem
- The officer withdrew his request after an orthopaedic surgeon said his purpose would not be served by buying a horse.

India signs pact with Philippines for supply of BrahMos missile
