Chhota Rajan says he's not afraid of threats from anyone, including Dawood Ibrahim

BALI: Underworld don Chhota Rajan said Wednesday that he is not scared of threats to his life from rival gangs, including from Dawood Ibrahim. “I am not scared,” he said when reporters asked him if he was scared of threats to his life. Arrested on arrival from Australia on Sunday, Rajan made the comments while being whisked away by police. Bali Police spokesman Hery Wiyanto said they were aware of the threats faced by Rajan and he has been placed with special commandos for protection. [caption id=“attachment_2482920” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Chhota Rajan/ AFP[/caption] “We have all the measures in place to ensure that the prisoner’s security is not compromised. Since he is a foreigner, we have heightened security for him,” he told reporters. Wiyanto said 55-year-old Rajan, whose original name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje, seems to be doing fine and there is no particular behavioural problem with him. “If he is under pressure, he is not showing it,” he said. Bali Police Commissioner Reinhard Nainggolan said Rajan repeatedly pleaded before the interrogators to free him as he wanted to go to Zimbabwe. Nainggolan said the gangster was medically fit, thus contradicting reports of him suffering from multiple ailments. Asked when he would be deported to India, Wiyanto said the Bali Police was waiting for a team of officials from India to interrogate Rajan first. “We will coordinate with the Indian authorities to formulate on how to deport Chhota Rajan back to India,” he said. Bali Police Commissioner Nainggolan said arrest of Rajan was a serious law enforcement operation under the supervision of the Interpol. He said they had information from the Indonesia Interpol that someone with the name Mohan Kumar had to be arrested based on the passport number. Acting on a tip-off from Australian police, Indonesian authorities detained Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje on Sunday as he arrived in the popular resort island of Bali from Sydney. The 55-year-old Nikalje, known in India as Chhota Rajan, had been evading police in several countries for years, with Interpol flagging him as a wanted man back in 1995. “We received information from police in Canberra yesterday (Sunday) about the red notice for a murderer,” Wiyanto told AFP. “We arrested the man at the airport yesterday. What we know is that this man was suspected to have carried out 15 to 20 murders in India.” Nikalje was the alleged former right-hand man of Mumbai crime kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, who is suspected of being behind the 1993 bomb blasts in the city that killed more than 250 people. Nikalje later became Ibrahim’s rival, accused of running one of several underworld outfits that had a grip on India’s financial and entertainment capital in the 1980s and 1990s until a police crackdown. “It (the arrest) is very, very important because after Dawood’s gang, his was the second most notorious and cruel gang,” former Mumbai police chief P.S Pasricha told an Indian TV station. “People were so scared that they stopped even holding their marriages in Mumbai or purchasing expensive cars because the moment they did, they would get calls from gangsters for extortion.” Among other crimes, police accused Nikalje in 2011 of ordering the murder of a prominent Mumbai crime reporter, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting the same year. Wiyanto said Bali police were coordinating with Interpol and Indian authorities, adding it was likely Nikalje would be deported to India. 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 Nikalje was living in Australia under another identity and had been in discussions with Indian authorities, the spokesperson said, but would not provide further details. Nikalje in 2001 was wounded by gunmen who burst into a Bangkok apartment and killed his associate in what appeared to be a shooting ordered by Ibrahim. Because he was facing a bid to extradite him to India, he made a dramatic escape from the Bangkok hospital where he was being treated. India’s top Central Bureau of Investigation welcomed the arrest on Monday, saying it had been working with Australia authorities to hunt down Nikalje. Interpol’s website says Nikalje was born in Mumbai, and was wanted for multiple charges including murder and possession and use of illegal firearms. AGENCIES