After completing preparations at the Arthur Road jail to house underworld don Rajan Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan, the Maharashtra government on Thursday night in a dramatic reversal decided to transfer all criminal cases against the don to the CBI.
The decision came a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis returned from Delhi, and an hour after he held a high level meeting at the state secretariat. The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K.P. Bakshi, Maharashtra Director General of Police Praveen Dixit, Mumbai police commissioner Ahmed Javed, Joint Commissioner (Crime) Atul Kulkarni among others.
“Ïndia is a signatory to the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime which mandates international co-operation on transnational organised crime, and Chhota Rajan was arrested under this convention. The CBI is the nodal agency for India under this convention, and hence the government has decided to transfer all cases in Mumbai and Maharashtra to the CBI,” Mr. Bakshi told a press conference.
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“Once it has been decided to hand over all cases to the CBI, it is the CBI chief’s decision whether to keep him in Delhi or bring him to Mumbai,” Mr. Bakshi added.
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Mumbai police had compiled a dossier of over 70 cases which included 20 cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.