Mumbai:
The government's decision to hand over all cases related to arrested gangster Chhota Rajan to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has left the Mumbai Police upset, source in the police have told NDTV.
The Mumbai Police believes, sources added, that it should have been allowed to interrogate Rajan and investigate the cases it had worked on them "painstakingly" for years.
Chhota Rajan, whose real name is Rajendra Nikalje, is wanted for over 80 cases of murder, extortion and drug trafficking in India, mainly Mumbai. He was brought to Delhi on Friday morning after being deported from Indonesia, where he was arrested over a week ago. The gangster had evaded the police in several countries for 27 years.
Most of the cases against him are registered with the Mumbai Police. But in a statement on Thursday, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi announced that all cases related to him were being transferred to the CBI as they had "national and international ramifications."
Defending the government's move, he said, "Every time this point is raised that we do not trust the Mumbai Police. We have thousands of cases to handle. If we have to give all our time to one case, somewhere we will fall short." Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmad Javed was sitting next to him.
A few days ago, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said Rajan would be brought to Mumbai. But his office had later clarified that he had made no such statement. Sources say the decision to transfer the cases to the CBI was made by the Centre and the Chief Minister was informed by the Home Ministry.
Meanwhile, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's former lawyer Shyam Keswani has also alleged that investigation agencies in India have struck a "deal" with Chhota Rajan and promised him that he will not be kept at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.
"The agencies have struck a deal with Chhota Rajan. The government can strike a deal with Dawood Ibrahim also. He had offered to come back if he would not be kept in the Arthur Road prison. Chhota Rajan is right when he says he has enemies in the police but that was not the reason he was sent to Delhi," he claimed.
"Chhota Rajan's claim that that he would be a target of Dawood in the custody of Mumbai Police is wrong. No police officer is ever going to let an underworld don be a target in his custody," Mr Keswani added.