The cinema ticket seller who became a Mumbai crime lord
In short: Before he was a notorious underworld figure, Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje sold movie tickets in Mumbai. His ascent from petty black marketeer to the head of a powerful syndicate involved bloody gang wars, international manhunts, and a dramatic arrest in a Bali airport queue.
Born in 1957 in Mumbai's Tilak Nagar, Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje began his criminal trajectory in the 1980s. Initially working as a cinema ticket seller, he moved into black marketing at the Sahakar and Ashok theatres under the mentorship of Bada Rajan. Following the death of his mentor, Nikalje assumed the title 'Chhota Rajan,' eventually rising to become the right-hand man to the even more powerful Dawood Ibrahim during the 1980s.
The alliance between the two titans fractured following the 1993 Bombay bombings. Rajan broke away to form an independent gang, sparking a violent era of conflict between his group and Ibrahim's D-Company. This rivalry was marked by high-profile hits, such as the 1994 torture and murder of Phillu Khan in Bangkok, and a 2000 assassination attempt in Bangkok where Ibrahim's men, disguised as pizza delivery men, attacked Rajan. Although Rajan survived the fall from a window, the feud continued with the 2003 killing of Ibrahim's finance manager, Sharad, in Dubai.
Rajan's decades-long flight ended in 2015. After 27 years on the run, he was apprehended in Bali by Indonesian authorities following a tip-off from Australian police. The arrest occurred at an airport queue when Rajan, traveling under the alias Mohan Kumar, inadvertently revealed his true identity during questioning. Since his extradition to India in November 2015, he has faced numerous convictions, including life sentences for the murders of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey and hotelier Jaya Shetty.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Chhota Rajan
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