Chhota Rajan was partying when attacked

Off the record, a senior Crime Branch officer told this paper that Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital after Dubai-based Chhota Shakeel pulled off one the most dramatic gangland operations of recent times. Shakeel’s men ambushed the terrace-party of Chhota Rajan’s gang at his lieutenant Rohit Verma’s bunglow at 26, Sukumit Soi. Rohit Verma alias Dharmendra Panda alias Babbu, his wife and two-year-old daughter were killed in the shootout.

Sources said six unidentified gunmen barged into Rohit Verma’s residence, went to the roof and sprayed around 30 rounds. Even as Rohit Varma and his family took the brunt of the attack, Rajan, who was just about to have dinner, jumped off the roof and escaped. It is still not clear whether Rajan’s associates opened retaliatory fire. He is always surrounded by a security cordon of not less than six sharpshooters armed with sophisticated weapons.

Rajan, it is believed, was awaiting clearance of his application for visa extension in Thailand. He is suspected to have been using a false passport under the name of Michael D’Souza.

Police suspect one of the gunmen, Feroz, could be Feroz Konkani, the Chhota Shakeel gangster and a prime accused in the bomb blast case. Konkani escaped from the custody of the Mumbai police on February 6, 1998, while being taken to court.

Sources in the Mumbai police fear that the the attack — gangland’s most dramatic in recent times — will disturb the equations in the underworld in favour of the Dubai mafia run by Chhota Shakeel, Dawood Ibrahim’s righthand man. The fallout of the attack could see an end to the relative calm on Mumbai’s streets which have not seen any major underworld activity in the last two years.

Said Joint Commissioner (Crime) D Shivandhan: “We are not excessively worried about this setting off gangwars. We are on top of the situation and will continue to keep a tight grip on underworld activity.”

But repraisals, if any, might not be immediate and need not cast their shadow on Mumbai, said another top officer. “Firstly, Rajan will have to recover. And, secondly, after he is attacked and one of his closest lieutenants is killed with family, Rajan would be stupid to go after Shakeel’s minions in Mumbai rather than target their masters in Dubai,” he said.

Rajan, 41, is named in at least 17 murders. Twelve of his victims belonged to Dawood Ibrahim (Rajan’s one-time boss) gang and were accused in the Mumbai blasts. He was arrested eight times between 1978 and 1983 before he sought a safe haven in Dubai. He fled Dubai after Dawood’s key associates Subash Singh Thakur and Sunil Sawant alias Sawtya hatched a plot to drown him in the high seas. The conspiracy was a fallout of the killing of the Bhandup don, Kim Bahadur Thapa, which was masterminded by Rajan without Dawood’s sanction.

Robber-turned shooter D K Rao, Sanjay Wadkar, Vilas Mane, Avdoot Bhonde, Ezaz Lakdawala, Kundan Singh Rawat and Sadhu Shetty are among the trusted lieutenants of Rajan, who can run his operations either in absence or during the time he recuperates.