Rajan’s own men double-crossed him

The men underworld don Chhota Rajan trusted to help him track his aide, Farid Tanasha’s killers, allegedly betrayed him.

The men underworld don Chhota Rajan trusted to help him track his aide, Farid Tanasha’s killers, allegedly betrayed him.

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Rattled by the killing of his trusted aide, Fareed Tanasha, in his own backyard, Rajan had paid some men money to gather information on who was behind the murder. These turned out to be the same men who, as was later discovered, had killed Tanasha.

Sources said these “informers” not just planned and executed Tanasha’ murder but also pocketed hefty sums of money from Rajan under the pretext of tracking down the “killers”.

Investigators have told Hindustan Times that Rajan paid Abu Osama and Zafarali Razi Aslam Khan alias Abbas Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively to get information on Tanasha’s killers. The money was paid through an illegal money transfer (hawala) network.

Tanasha was shot dead at his Kurla home on June 2 and on July 2 nine men from the rival Bharat Nepali gang were arrested for the murder. Nepali, the crime branch claimed, had got the killing done to establish his sway over the extortion empire of Rajan, his erstwhile mentor.

The duo had kept the money with them until the police picked up Abbas. “But before the news could become public, Osama got wind of it and he called Rajan to tell him that Abbas’ men had carried out the hit,” the officer added. Sources said Rajan’s men have been cheating him in other ways too. “They give him an inflated cost of weapons and pocket the surplus money,” the officer said.

Abbas was said to be one of the brains behind the plan. He was also involved in the killing of police informer Amjad Khan at Kala Ghoda in 2006 but was discharged. Osama’s name had also cropped up in the shootout but he had been evading arrest.