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Indian Gangster Escapes From Hospital
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Notorious Indian gangster Chhota Rajan has escaped from a Bangkok hospital where he was recovering from gunshot wounds, on Friday. Chhota Rajan was shot September15 in his Bangkok apartment by assailants belonging to the rival Dawood Ibrahim gang.
Chhota Rajan is currently wanted in India on over 30 charges of murder, extortion and other illegal activity. A son of a sweeper growing up in Mumbai (Bombay), he soon joined up with the now Dubai-based mafia don Dawood Ibrahim.
Together they built an empire of smuggling and extortion in Indian. They also owned several legal business establishments serving as fronts for their illegal activities. But the two fell out in 1993 after Dawood allegedly ordered serial bombings in Mumbai in the wake of the demolition of Babri Masjid and the massacre of hundreds of Muslims. Since then, the two have evenly split on communal lines.
Dawood's top aide and heir apparent, Chhota Shakeel, is alleged to have ordered Rajan's killing. Two Pakistanis were arrested for their alleged involvement in the attack.
Earlier last month, the gang wars took to cyberspace with the establishment of two websites. One website claiming to be created by secular Indians called “Earn One Lakh Dollars” stated that it will give $100,000 to any one giving substantial information leading to the killing of Rajan.
Not to be out done, a rival website called “Save India from ISI” – ISI is Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence bureau - offered to give $1 million to any one with information leading to the killing of Dawood Ibrahim.
The two websites, hosted on Yahoo's free server, attracted much of media attention, and are now defunct.
Indian intelligence agencies, especially the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), are suspected of having close links with Rajan, and may have been helped him escape from the heavily guarded hospital with Thai commandos on hand.
Indian authorities have been working on a snail's pace to extradite Rajan to India, attracting much criticism from the press.
With Rajan's dramatic escape, Mumbai cops fear that the violence might spill over into the streets of the city. A police official told The Daily Pioneer, an Indian daily, "We expect Rajan's boys to regroup and take on the [rival] Dawood [Ibrahim] gang."
Shakeel, in an interview with the Times of India said, “Wherever he is, my men will get him. It is only a question of time. Our Bangkok operation was executed after lot of homework. But unfortunately, he escaped with some wounds. But the next time, we will be more thorough. It is wrong to regard him as a patriot. He is just another gangster and a betrayer at that.''
Latest reports on Rajan’s whereabouts indicate that he has arrived in an undisclosed western European country.
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