Chhota Rajan

Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje (born 13 January 1960), popularly known by his moniker Chhota Rajan, is an Indian gangster and convicted criminal who served as the boss of a major crime syndicate based in Mumbai.

While living in Tilak Nagar, a big colony for the low-income group near Chembur, Mumbai, Rajan started as a petty black marketeer of cinema tickets at Sahakar Cinema.

He was imprisoned for assaulting police constables.

His mentor Bada Rajan introduced him to black marketing of cinema tickets at Sahakar cinema Ashok Theatre in the 1980s.

His mentors were Bada Rajan and Yadagiri of Hyderabad under whom he learned the tricks of the trade.

Once Bada Rajan was killed, Nikalje received the throne and the title—Chhota Rajan.

For a short period, Dawood Ibrahim, Rajan and Arun Gawli worked together.

Then, Gawli's elder brother Papa Gawli was assassinated over a drug deal and a rift formed.

After being released from jail, he joined the Bada Rajan gang in 1982.

After Bada Rajan was shot dead, Chhota Rajan took over the gang and worked for Dawood Ibrahim who had fled to Dubai.

During the Arun Gawli - Rajan escaped to Dubai in 1989 and eventually rose to be the right hand of Dawood Ibrahim before splitting with him in 1993 and forming an independent gang that frequently clashed with Dawood's D-Company.

He is wanted for many criminal cases that include extortion, murder, smuggling and drug trafficking.

He is also wanted in 70 murder cases and several more attempted murders.

It is said that Rajan finances, a social organization called "Sahyadri Krida Mandal" that organizes the Ganesh Utsav in Tilaknagar, which has been Rajan's home base.

Rajan's wife and two daughters continue to live in Tilaknagar.

Rajan went to Dubai — his family is still here, apart from his wife in 1989 to attend the wedding of Noora, Ibrahim's brother.

He never returned.

After the 1993 Bombay bombings, Ibrahim and Rajan fell out.

There were even reports that he tipped off the Research and Analysis Wing about Ibrahim's network.

Both Phillu and Mangya were involved in the 1993 blasts as police had filed cases on 15 March 1993 alleging their involvement in the blasts.

Till now Rajan gunmen have gunned down 10 people accused in the blast.

In 1994, Rajan lured one of Dawood's favorite "narco-terrorist" Phillu Khan alias Bakhtiyar Ahmed Khan to a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was tortured to death, having been betrayed by his closest aide and sidekick Mangesh "Mangya" Pawar.

The Ibrahim-Rajan party was over, the messy end coming in September 2000, with Chhota Shakeel's attack on Rajan in his Bangkok hotel room.

In September 2000, Dawood tracked down Rajan in Bangkok.

Sharad, used his links with Mumbai-based hotelier Vinod and A. Mishra to track down Rajan in the city, Dawood's aide Chhota Shakeel then led the hit.

Posing as a pizza delivery man they gunned down the trusted Rajan hitman Rohit Varma and his wife.

However their aim of killing Rajan failed, with Rajan escaping through the hotel's roof and fire-escape.

He then recovered in a hospital and slipped away to evade capture.

Dawood Ibrahim confirmed the attack on the telephone to Rediff.com, saying Rajan tried to escape by jumping out of the window of the first-floor room where he was attacked.

Rajan was arrested in Bali by Indonesian police on 25 October 2015.

Rajan was extradited from Bali to India on 6 November 2015 after 27 years on the run and is currently awaiting trials for ongoing cases in custody.

On 26 October 2015, Rajan was arrested in Bali.

Acting on a tip-off from Australian police, Indonesian authorities detained Rajan on Sunday as he arrived in Bali from Sydney.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Anil Sinha confirmed the arrest saying, "Bali Police arrested Chhota Rajan yesterday at CBI’s request made through Interpol."

After the split, he formed his own gang.

Reports of bloody shootouts between Rajan and Dawood's hoodlums have been common since the split.

On 2 May 2018 he was convicted of murder of a journalist and handed life imprisonment.

Chhota Rajan was born in a family in the Tilaknagar area of Chembur, Bombay.

He worked as a cinema ticket seller in his early days.

He started his criminal career by committing petty crimes in Chembur.