Ravi Mallesh Bora, a known aide of the now arrested gangster, Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, made numerous calls to international numbers from inside the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai for four to five months earlier this year, during the time when Rajan was abroad and active, an investigation by the Navi Mumbai police has revealed.
Bora, also known as D. K. Rao, has been lodged in Taloja jail for over a year. Rao is known to be an old-time Rajan loyalist, infamous for his role in planning murders of the accused in the 1993 bomb blast at Rajan’s behest, after the latter broke off from Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and started projecting himself as a ‘patriotic don’.
In June, during a surprise check of Rao’s cell at Taloja jail, the Prisons Department seized three cell phones. A report was submitted to the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai, where Rao is currently being tried, and the court instructed the Navi Mumbai police to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit a report.
“We obtained call data records (CDRs) of the three cell phones and studied them. We found that several calls that Rao made from all the three cell phones were to international numbers of various countries. He had also made calls to his family members and friends, with over 500 calls being made in total over five-six months,” said a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named. Sources said Rajan, who was abroad at the time, was also active.
Officials with the Mumbai Crime Branch, who have been tracking his activities, said Rajan has, over the last several years, been calling his associates in Mumbai and nearby areas using the voice over internet protocol facility. Officials said he has been relaying instructions on extortion calls that have to be made to targets in the business and real estate industry.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishwas Pandhre, Navi Mumbai, who oversaw the inquiry, said, “I can only say that we registered an offence against Rao under the Prisons Act at the Kharghar police station, and submitted our investigation report to the court and the Prisons Department. I can not reveal details of a court-ordered investigation.” Inspector General of Police (Prisons) Bipin Kumar Singh confirmed that the cell phones had been seized from Rao’s cell, and that the Navi Mumbai police had sent their report. “We had suspended four officials when the cell phones were found, and they have recently been reinstated after four months. A full-fledged departmental enquiry is under way into the matter, and further course of action will be decided based on the findings of the probe as well as the Navi Mumbai police’s report,” Mr. Singh said.
Rao, who used to work as a watchman in Dharavi before turning to crime, started his criminal career with robberies in the early 1990s. He joined Rajan’s gang in 1996, went on to become a trusted recruiter for him, and eventually orchestrated murders. Rao has over 30 cases, including robberies, extortion and murder, registered against him under the Indian Penal Code and MCOCA.
