Shivanandan to visit Bangkok to seek Rajan’s deportation

"Initially, the Thai authorities were ready to deport him but now they are saying that they will extradite him," Bhujbal said.

The extradition process may take a period of six months to two years or more. The Mumbai police are yet to get possession of musician Nadeem, an accused in the murder of music magnate Gulshan Kumar. He has taken asylum in London and the case is being heard before a local court on his extradition since several months.

Wiser with their earlier experience, the State Government had decided to seek Rajan’s deportation.

"We are unable to understand what the Thai authorities are thinking on handing over the criminal to our police. Shivandanan will talk with the local police and find it out," Bhujbal pointed out.

Presently, Shivanandan is in Goa and expected to return to the city in a day or two. "We have sent an urgent message to him and he is likely to leave for Bangkok by Monday," Bhujbal said.

Earlier, a team of officers from Mumbai Police comprising of Assistant Commissioner of Police Shankar Kamble, Inspector S Pujari and Sub-Inspector Hemant Desai were despatched to Bangkok on October 4. The officers are yet to achieve a breakthrough in extraditing Rajan.

Thailand on Thursday said that India had requested the extradition of Rajan. A Thai foreign ministry official has said that Rajan was incapacitated after six shooters owing allegiance to the rival Chhota Shakeel faction barged into the 26, Sukumvit Soi apartment at downtown Bangkok and opened indiscriminate fire on September 15 last.

While Rajan managed to escape with bullets in his shoulder and liver after jumping from the first floor terrace flat, his trusted lieutenant Rohit Verma died on the spot. Also, lucky to survive was Verma’s wife Sikandari Hama and her two-year-old daughter.

The Thai police arrested Shakeel hitmen Sayed Muddasir Hussain alias Munna Jingada, Farid Khan, Mir Chavalit Arunkait, Sher Khan and Mohammed Salim in connection with the attack. However, Rajan refused to identify his assailants and told the Thai court that he was injured in an accident.

Rajan is currently undergoing treatment in an undisclosed nursing home in Bangkok. Some of his trusted lieutenants confirmed that the mafia don is arrested.

The Indian Government has earlier revoked Rajan’s passport after he entered Thailand under the false name of Vijay Kadam. The action was endorsed by the immigration authorities in Bangkok.

Rajan began operating on his own after he fell out with his former mentor Dawood Ibrahim in 1993. He is named in at least 17 serious offences, including the murder of five serial bomb blast accused in the last three years.

Rajan’s sympathisers feel he is a `Hindu don’. Not surprisingly, he has not killed any businessman in the last two years, but had masterminded the killing of Nepali MP Mirza Baig at Kathmandu in 1999.

Baig allegdly was a Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence mole in the Himalayan kingdom and was providing shelter to members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang after strikes in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Slain Rajan aide Rohit Verma and Vinod Matkar had carried out the operation at the behest of the government agencies.