Who is Chhota Rajan: His rise from a bootlegger to underworld don

Chotta Rajan has been detained in Indonesia after a chase that lasted over 2 decades. A former aide of Dawood Ibrahim, Rajan ran a crime syndicate in India

His journey into the big world of the underworld started several years back. He started out as a petty thief and began work for Rajan Nair also known as Bada Rajan who was a boot-legger. Following the murder of Bada Rajan, he took over the business and later became affiliated with the D-Gang.

Early life:

Born in Mumbai as Rajan Nikalage, he grew up in an area called Tilaknagar in Chembur. He worked at the Sahakar cinema in the early 1980s before meeting with Bada Rajan.

The murder of Bada Rajan led to Chotta Rajan becoming the boss and for a short duration he worked along with Dawood Ibrahim. He continued to operate for the D gang in India and later in 1988 fled to Dubai. According to the Interpol website, he is wanted in a series of extortions, murders and smuggling of drugs.

Rajan is said to have had a hand in movies as well. The police have probed several cases in which movies have been financed by Rajan.

Parting with Dawood:

It is said that it was after the 1993 blasts in Mumbai that he parted ways with the D-Gang. He continued to operate out of Dubai and even Thailand. He had in fact once requested the Indian agencies for help stating that he would provide information about the D company.

This led to him forming his own gang and there have been several shoot outs between the two gangs since then. The face off between Rajan and Dawood continued for long. In the year 2000, Dawood's aide, Shakeel made an assassination bid on him at a hotel in Bangkok. Rajan however escaped.