Gangster Chhota Rajan Alive, Being Treated at AIIMS for COVID-19

Underworld don Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan had been admitted to the hospital on 26 April.

File image of Gangster Chhota Rajan.

(Photo: PTI)

Soon after reports emerged of the death of underworld don Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, an AIIMS official told ANI that the gangster is still alive and remains admitted at the hospital, where he is being treated for COVID-19.

Rajan had been admitted to the hospital on 26 April.

He was earlier lodged in the high security Tihar jail, where he had been since his arrest on 25 October 2015, and his consequent deportation from Indonesia, following an Interpol Red Corner Notice.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been investigating Rajan in nearly 80 separate cases including those lodged between 1995 and 1998.

In October 2019, the CBI had also begun probe into five cases against Rajan, including those related to his initial days when he was working as an alleged bootlegger with his mentor Rajan Nair alias Bada Rajan over three decades ago.

Those cases were registered by the Mumbai police in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, reported IANS.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS.)

(Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Rajan is alive and continues to be treated at AIIMS, Delhi, despite reports to the contrary. Error is regretted.)