NEW DELHI (TIP): Underworld don Chhota Rajan was on Nov 19 evening handed over to the Tihar jail authorities. Rajan will spend his first night in a high security cell inside jail number 2.
Jail sources said that he was brought to the prison around 6 in the evening by CBI officials, who had custody of the gangster.
The don was extradited from Indonesia earlier this month after his arrest on October 27 at the Bali airport, where he was held while travelling under a false name. Sources said the don was kept alone and would be under constant CCTV surveillance. From Friday, he will be allowed to move only in a small corridor outside his cell. Tamil Nadu state police personnel will be posted to ensure that he is not ‘attacked’.
Sources said around 6.30pm on Wednesday, Rajan was brought to jail number 2.
Sources said that in the coming weeks, he could be given the facility of attending court hearings through video conferencing. “He is alone in his cell because of the high-security threat to him. He will not mix with anyone. A deputy superintendent has been asked to ensure that someone is always on his watch round the clock,” said a jail officer.
Even if Rajan is not able to get video conferencing facility, sources said that he would travel alone to the next court appearance slated for November 3.
CBI takes over cases
The CBI on Thursday took over 71-odd cases of Maharashtra police against Mumbai gangster Chhota Rajan, with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issuing a mandatory notification effecting the move on a request from the state government. “The CBI is in the process of taking over these cases,” said a CBI spokesperson.
A city court on Thursday sent Rajan to the city’s high-security Tihar jail in judicial custody for two weeks in a CBI case related to alleged passport fraud.
“Rajan was today produced before the competent court and the court sent him in 14 days’ judicial custody to the Tihar prison,” the spokesperson said. According to a CBI source, the agency will soon seek permission of the court to question Rajan in the cases, which are being re-registered.
The HT on Wednesday had first reported that the CBI will take over Maharashtra police’s cases against Rajan this week. The DoPT notification was in response to an earlier notification of the Maharashtra government beginning the handover process. It is yet to be seen, however, if all cases against Rajan, including those that are undergoing trial like the one pertaining to murder of Mumbai’s senior crime journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in 2011, are among the cases handed over to the agency, said the source.