Chhota Rajan names Mumbai cops who have links with Dawood Ibrahim: Report

New Delhi: Within hours of being deported to India from Indonesia where he was arrested, underworld don Chhota Rajan has started spilling the beans.

As per a report in India Today, Chhota Rajan has spelled out the names of Mumbai Police officers who have or have had links with India's most wanted, Dawood Ibrahim.

Rajan had earlier claimed that some in the Mumbai Police were in touch with Dawood Ibrahim.

"The Mumbai Police has done a lot of 'atyachar' (atrocities) on me," he had alleged.

As per the report, Rajan told CBI during interrogation today that some retired Mumbai Police officers had acted as a bridge between Dawood and senior cops.

Rajan, after his arrest, had also expressed reservation over plans to lodge him in a Mumbai jail, fearing that Dawood may target him there.

Rajan was brought to New Delhi early today from the Indonesian tourist city of Bali by a joint team headed by CBI officials to face trial in over 70 cases of murder, extortion and drug smuggling in Delhi and Mumbai.

Deported after being on the run for 27 years, the 55-year-old gangster, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, landed at Palam airport along with seven-member team which included officials from Delhi Police's elite Special Cell and Mumbai Police's Crime Branch in an IAF's Gulfstream-III aircraft.

He was taken straight to the CBI headquarters where he was subjected to a preliminary round of questioning.

Due to security concerns, Rajan, who has reportedly tipped Indian security agencies about the movement of Dawood Ibrahim and his aides, is unlikely to be taken to a Delhi court and instead a magistrate will be brought to the CBI headquarters for his remand.

After his arrest in Bali on October 25, India had pressed for his early deportation, which, however, got delayed due to closure of Bali's international airport due to spewing of volcanic ash from a nearby mountain.

Upon his arrival here, he was taken into preventive custody of Interpol division of the CBI till the central probe agency completes legal formalities for registering a case of allegedly procuring fake passport and takes over the 70 cases handed over by Maharashtra government.

In a brief statement, a CBI spokesperson said that Rajan has been successfully brought to India from Indonesia. "He is in custody of CBI-Interpol. Legal formalities are in progress."

The spokesperson said he was medically fit and required no dialysis. This statement comes after Maharashtra government had made arrangements for dialysis following reports that his kidneys were not functioning properly.

Rajan had told media in Bali that he was happy to return to India and had rubbished reports that his arrest was orchestrated as he was facing threat from Dawood's men.

Ahead of his arrival in India, Maharashtra government made a surprise announcement of handing over all the cases related to the underworld don to the CBI as the agency had expertise in handling such cases. This move comes barely a few days after the state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had been making claims that Rajan will be brought only to Mumbai.

(With PTI inputs)