Indian gangsters were in Fiji last week pursuing an arch rival gang member reports, the Times of India.

Their leader, Shakeel  Shaikh alias Chhota Shakeel, claimed credit for fugitive Chhota Rajan’s arrest in Indonesia.

But Shakeel, who had orchestrated the  attack on Rajan in Bangkok in 2000, also said he was not happy with Rajan’s arrest.

“My boys were on the job in Fiji last week, and we had jammed him in his hideouts. He was forced to flee to Indonesia, which led to his arrest. The D Company is not happy with his arrest and our enmity does not end here. I want to eliminate him, and I will not rest. Even if he is deported my operation against him will continue,” Shakeel told TOI.

Shakeel, who has being trying to kill Rajan ever since the split in the gang occurred in the aftermath of the 1993 serial blasts, had carried out an attack on Rajan in Bangkok in September 2000. Rajan was seriously injured and hospitalised. Later, Rajan with the help of his confidants, fled from the hospital.

In the two-decade-old rivalry between the two gangs, several members from either side have been eliminated.

Rajan is wanted by Indian Police for heinous crimes ranging from murder and extortion to smuggling, drug trafficking and threatening Bollywood personalities. He was arrested by a joint Australian and Bali police team in Bali on Sunday.

Rajan was hiding in Australia for the last seven years under the identity of Mohan Kumar, sources said.

Government sources said a CBI and Mumbai Police team will travel to Indonesia to process his deportation, after which he will be in the custody of Mumbai police. Rajan is at present being interrogated by Bali police and Indian intelligence officials stationed in Bali, said officials.

Dubbed as the ‘Hindu don’ after he fell out with Dawood following the 1993 Mumbai bombings, Rajan was often seen as an ‘asset’ by Indian agencies as they sought to counter the D-gang. But as his crimes piled up and his utility diminished, the operation to nab Rajan is said to have been in the works and his presence in Bali offered an opportunity to pick him up.

Rajan began his descent into a world of crime as a petty black marketer of cinema tickets in the 1970-80s. From there he graduated to bigger crimes and won Dawood’s recognition to become one of his key aides and a ruthless criminal.

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