Salim the Disposable (Tracing the absconder Salim Kurla) continues...

Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje a.k.a. Chota Rajan, born to Maharashtrian parents also belonged to impoverished parents living in the lower middle class locality of Tilak Nagar in Chembur, Central Mumbai. Rajan started his criminal career as a black-marketeer of cinema tickets at Shankar movie theatre in late 70s. He came in contact with Rajan Nayar a.k.a. Bada Rajan who was a bootlegger. He took over Bada Rajan’s gang after the latter’s murder by a rival gang. He soon joined hands with Dawood Ibrahim and became one of his main lieutenants. He joined Dawood in Dubai and operated under his suzerainty until the gang broke up on communal lines in the wake of the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993. With this backgrounder, let us get back to the main story where we left it.

At about 11 AM on January 21, 1995, the morning after Raman received his mole’s call, Satish Jha called me up. I was Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the STF then, based in Delhi. He gave me the details of the intelligence input and sought further instructions from me. I asked him to proceed by the first available flight to Hyderabad along with Inspector Raman Tyagi. The SP wanted one more trusted officer namely Inspector D.K. Pardesi to accompany him. I asked him to go ahead and informed him that I too would try and reach Hyderabad the same evening.

Satish and his officers Inspectors Raman Tyagi and D.K. Pardesi reached Hyderabad the same evening by 8 PM and I reached by 9.30 PM. We were booked to stay at the Andhra Pradesh Police Officers’ Mess at Masaba Tank, near Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. However, I chose to drive straight to the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Begumpet, Secunderabad. Hyderabad and Secunderabad are twin cities and the erstwhile capital of undivided Andhra Pradesh. The CBI officer who had come to receive me at the airport had informed me that my colleagues from Bombay were waiting for me there.

To be continued.....