Underworld don Chhota Rajan’s return to India, after his arrest in Indonesia, may spark violence in Mumbai, intelligence inputs and security sources said. Concerns about a possible spike in violence were strengthened by the fact that Rajan and his archrival Dawood Ibrahim still have extensive financial interests in Mumbai, and both also have wide networks, though dormant in recent years.
In construction, land, films and many other aspects of Mumbai’s financial life, both gangs have considerable influence even now. They also have profitable extortion networks still running, though most of them have gone below the security radar.
In all likelihood, officials said, Chhota Shakeel, Dawood’s aide, would go all out to kill Rajan. While Shakeel would be aware that police won’t let his gang succeed, such an attack was a certainty. “It may not be immediate, but it is a certainty,” they said.
Though Rajan’s core criminal gang had been eliminated, and all his key aides were either dead or had ditched him, he has a widespread network in the city and outside. Intelligence agencies for long had known that he was running his business interests in Mumbai through his wife and other close relatives and some associates. They estimate that he has a key role in construction activities in Chembur and nearby areas. “It is not a defunct company. It still is a profitable operation,” an officer said of the Rajan gang. “He will gain in strength once he is back in India.”
As for the Dawood gang, its influence in India waned since the 1993 blasts, but there are clear indications that the Pakistan-based don has many financial interests and active networks in the city.
Recently Chhota Shakeel sent a hit team to Australia to eliminate Rajan, while another of his gang members tailed the wife of a Rajan gang member to Singapore. They believed that Rajan frequented Singapore, and could be targeted there.
Intercepts hinted that these gangs have their contacts within the establishment and among the elite still intact.
While many members of the Rajan gang such as Vicky Malhotra have shifted loyalties to the Dawood gang, and his gang has weakened, Rajan’s return could rejuvenate it. His networks operate sizeable extortion and construction businesses, officials said.
