Indonesian police on Sunday arrested underworld don Chhota Rajan in Bali on an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued at the behest of the CBI. Rajan is wanted by India in connection with several criminal offences and has been on the run for two decades.
The arrest came soon after Australian police alerted its counterparts in Jakarta that 55-year-old Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, alias Mohan Kumar, alias Chhota Rajan, has flown from Sydney to Indonesia’s popular tourist destination Bali.
Soon after the arrest of Rajan, the powerful aide-turned-foe of notorious terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, Indonesian authorities said they will deport him to India this week.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and CBI Director Anil Sinha too confirmed the development. Terming Rajan’s arrest as a major success, Singh said, “Indian Government had been trying to nab him for a long time and had made a request to Interpol in this regard. We had issued a notice (through the Interpol).”
Once identification and verification is done, appropriate action will be taken, Singh told reporters in New Delhi while thanking Interpol and Indonesian authorities for their assistance in nabbing Rajan.
Asked when Rajan will be brought to India, Singh said the CBI and other agencies are in touch with Indonesian authorities and things are being worked out. However, the Home Minister did not give any timeframe.
Rajan is considered an asset of the Indian Intelligence agencies and his arrest has fuelled speculation of an operation against the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate in the near future. He has an extensive network in the underworld and could prove to be a valuable resource for tracking other wanted fugitives in India.
Chhota Rajan was on the Interpol’s most wanted list for two decades, an agency report quoted Bali police spokesman Heri Wiyanto as saying. Wiyanto said that Rajan was arrested on Sunday after his arrival at Bali’s airport from Sydney.
He said police were questioning Rajan in Bali police headquarters in Denpasar, the provincial capital, and coordinating with Indian diplomats for a deportation process.
He was traveling on an Indian passport when he arrived in Denpasar, about 968 kilometres east of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. “This man is suspected to have been involved in more than 20 murders in India,” said Wiyanto, “We will deport him this week.”
Another official, Denpasar Police chief detective Reinhard Habonaran Nainggolan confirmed that Rajan arrived in Indonesia carrying a passport in the guise of Mohan Kumar. Rajan told Indonesian police that he had been hiding in Australia for seven years and flew to Bali by a Garuda Indonesia flight for vacation, an agency report said.
According to reports, a spokesperson for Australian Federal Police said Interpol in Canberra had alerted Indonesian authorities “who apprehended Nikalje at the request of Indian authorities”. The federal police confirmed last month that Chhota Rajan was living in Australia under another identity and had been in touch with Indian authorities, the spokesperson added without divulging any further details.
“At the request of CBI Interpol, India, the Bali Police arrested Indian national Mohan Kumar yesterday. Mohan Kumar, alias Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, alias Chota Rajan, is a fugitive and the CBI has been pursuing the matter with the Australian authorities,” CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh said.
Sources said a team of CBI and Intelligence agencies is being dispatched to Bali to bring the fugitive back after legal formalities for his deportation. In Mumbai, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde said the State Government will request the Centre to allow Rajan to be taken to Mumbai after he is deported to India
The Dawood Ibrahim syndicate had reportedly made an attempt to eliminate Rajan in April this year. The Dawood gang had also attempted to kill Rajan in 2000 when the former’s hit men tracked him down to a hotel in Bangkok but he managed to escape through the hotel’s roof.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the arrest has been made due to close coordination between Indonesia, Australia and Indian security agencies. Since most of the cases against Rajan were registered in Mumbai, the State police will take the initiative of his prosecution, he added.
Officials in the Ministry of External Affairs said that Governments of India, Australia and Indonesia have been in touch in the past over the issue and the matter was being handled through Interpol. “There are no further details required as of now on this. Action has been taken as anticipated. If there is any requirement government will take it up further,” said Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East) in MEA.
Interestingly, there is no extradition arrangement between India and Indonesia as of now and a letter on Extradition Treaty is to be exchanged during Vice-President Hamid Ansari’s visit to Bali in November. However, Wadhwa said that extradition treaty is one of the many ways available to India in bringing back any one wanted by it. “There are several other mechanisms and arrangements through which a person can be brought back from another country. The issue is on track and our ministries are in touch with each other,” Wadhwa added.
Incidentally, a recently-signed pact with Indonesia may come in handy for India to bring back arrested underworld don as the agreement allows deportation of criminals on either side based on a court warrant.
The pact was signed and notified by India and Indonesia in August this year for deportation of each other’s wanted persons and cooperate in all criminal matters, including gathering evidence.
“Arrangements have been made by the Central government with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia for service or execution of summons or warrant in relation to criminal matters on any person in the Republic of Indonesia,” a gazette notification issued by the Home Ministry on August 21, 2015 said.
This pact is one of the options the Government is mulling to exhaust to bring Rajan back home.