Notorious fugitive Indian gangster 'arrives back in Delhi

Indonesian police escort Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje from Bali police headquarters to Ngurah Rai Airport during his deportation Photo: AFP/Getty Images
6:31AM GMT 06 Nov 2015
An alleged Indian gangster on the run for more than 20 years arrived in Delhi on Friday after being deported from Indonesia, where he was arrested on the resort island of Bali at the weekend, reports said.

Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, known in India as Chhota Rajan, was transported on an Indian Air Force jet and was whisked away to an undisclosed location under tight security, the Press Trust of India reported.

His deportation, due earlier this week, was delayed after a volcanic eruption on a nearby Indonesian island forced authorities to ground all flights from Bali for two days.

Nikalje left the island late on Thursday, shortly after Bali airport reopened for flights.
The 55-year-old had been evading police in several countries for years, with Interpol flagging him as a wanted man back in 1995.

He was arrested in Indonesia earlier this week upon arrival from Sydney, following a tip-off from Australian police, who confirmed in September he had been living there under another identity.

Nikalje was the alleged former right-hand man of Mumbai crime kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, who is suspected of being behind the 1993 bomb blasts in the city that killed more than 250 people.

Nikalje later became Ibrahim's rival, accused of running one of several underworld outfits that had a grip on India's financial and entertainment capital in the 1980s and 1990s until a police crackdown.

Police accused Nikalje in 2011 of ordering the murder of a prominent Mumbai crime reporter, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting the same year.

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