CBI takes over probe in 3 cases involving Chhota Rajan

Suspected Indian gangster Chhota Rajan is shown in this photograph taken in Bangkok on September 26, 2000. Rajan escaped on November 24, 2000 from the fourth floor of a Thai hospital, where he had been detained by police since mid-September, by using a makeshift rope made from bedsheets. Rajan, awaiting a hearing to decide if he should be extradited to India to face 17 counts of murder and other mob-related charges, had been receiving treatment for gunshot wounds he suffered during a shootout in Bangkok on September 15, 2000. NWA/CC - RTRB7BJ

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation in three cases allegedly involving gangster Chhota Rajan, who was deported from Indonesia in November 2015, according to an FIR registered by the agency.

The first case relates to a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Mumbai Police at Bandra police station in 1999 about a shootout at Naupada road junction targeting Majid Khan and his associates in which three people were killed.

The police had filed a chargesheet against Chhota Rajan, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, and his gang members Hemant Pujari, Kundan Singh Rawat and Samir Manek.

The agency also took over the probe into ranson calls made by Rajan's gang members Prince and Bunty Pandey between June and July 2002 demanding Rs 25 lakh from a person named Virendra Jain.

The Mumbai Police had filed chargesheet against four persons, including Rajan, who was shown as a wanted accused.

The third case pertains to the killing of Sham Sunderraj allegedly by gang members of Rajan in Khar Mumbai in 1995.

The Mumbai Police has charged Rajan and his gang members Abdul Wahab Abdul Khalil Pathan, Dharmendra Pandey alias Babbu Pandey Bunty, Arun Shetty and Sugnu Jetwani for criminal conspiracy and muder.

After Rajan was brought to Delhi from Indonesia, the central government had handed over the probe of all 71 cases registered against him in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune to the CBI.

The agency has re-registered cases including those in which the local police had already filed its chargesheet.