Chhota Rajan sent to Tihar jail

Long-absconding underworld don Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan was sent in judicial custody to Tihar jail by a Delhi court on Wednesday in a fake passport case, a CBI official said.

"Special Judge O.P. Saini sent Chhota Rajan to judicial custody till December 3 after the CBI told him the don was not required for further police custody," sources told IANS.

The sources said the court hearing took place at the CBI headquarters here under tight security where the don was presented after the expiry of his CBI custody.

On November 16, the court had extended the CBI custody of Chhota Rajan till November 19.

A CBI official said the probe agency did not require further custody of Chhota Rajan in the fake passport case and till now had not received the case files of other cases pending against him.

He said the CBI was in the process of getting files of 71 other cases lodged against him from the Maharashtra Police.

The central agency had booked Rajan and unknown public servants in a fake passport case on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, cheating by impersonation, forgery of document under the Indian Penal Code.

The agency claimed Rajan got prepared an Indian passport in the name of Mohan Kumar and an address in Karnataka. CBI sources confirmed that Rajan reached Australia on September 22, 2003, on the same passport and a tourist visa.

Rajan is wanted for over 85 crimes, ranging from murder to extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking. Apart from Maharashtra, he has cases pending against him in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and with the CBI.

Mumbai Police has nearly 75 cases against Rajan, including 20 of murder, four under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, one under Prevention of Terrorism Act and over 20 cases under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

The fugitive don -- arrested by Indonesian Police on October 25 -- arrived at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on November 6 in a special aircraft, accompanied by officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation, and Mumbai and Delhi police. He was taken straight to the CBI headquarters here under tight security.