According to a senior Crime Branch official, Chhota Rajan’s key aide, Bharat Nepali, has broken away from the Rajan family and now has floated his own new gang.
Gangster Bharat Nepali, was one of the most trusted henchmen of underworld don Chhota Rajan.
Nepali, who was amongst the first recruits in the Rajan gang, is suspected to be holed up in Southeast Asia.
“Nepali has been running his own gang for the last couple of months,” Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police and the chief of Mumbai Crime Branch, said. Underworld insiders said that since Nepali does not command much following in the underworld, he is beginning from scratch, recruiting aides from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Mumbai, particularly from the Tilak Nagar-Chembur-Govandi belt — his playground in the underworld. He is also said to be chumming around with other gangsters.
The police got a whiff of Nepali’s latest moves when they intercepted his extortion calls to builders in Uttar Pradesh. Nepali, who was in charge of extortion activities in the Rajan gang, did not utter the Rajan name to terrorise the builders. Instead, he used only his name. Informers also said that Nepali had branched out from the Rajan gang.
The police are trying to ascertain what caused the rift between him and Rajan. With DK Rao, Rajan’s key aide, behind bars and facing MCOCA charges, Nepali’s breaking away may hit the gang’s activities, police said.
Nepali, senior police officials said, was associated with the Rajan gang for nearly two decades. He is a suspect in at least a dozen murder cases. He used to live in Tilak Nagar, where Rajan nurtured him. His fling with the crime world started when he began selling movie tickets in black outside a cinema hall in Tilak Nagar.
As reported in DNA , Saturday, May 2, 2009
