State, Centre did not agree on Rajan extradition in 2000: Policemen

MUMBAI: Gangster Chhota Rajan could have been brought back to India in 2000, but for a difference of opinion in the echelons of power, said policemen who dealt with the don then. The Congress-NCP state government was keen on getting Rajan, but the BJP-led Centre wasn't. Retired ACP Shankar Kamble, who was part of the three-member team that went to Bangkok after Rajan was injured in an attack, said: "Initially, the government had shown interest in getting them and hence, we were sent to record Rajan's statement. Rajan too was keen on returning to India but within five days, things changed. We were not allowed to speak to him and were told to come back.''

"I had a meeting with then foreign minister Jaswant Singh, who showed a lot of interest and hence we send a team of officers to get him back. But within five days, our team was told by the Thai authorities that Rajan had fled by jumping from the window. Now, I doubt the version how Rajan, who was critically injured, could have jumped. Secondly, the government too was not keen as we did not get the kind of coordination he expected," said M N Singh, who was the Mumbai police commissioner then.

Sources said Rajan was advised by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) against returning. It used the opportunity to instigate Rajan against Dawood. "When the Indian security agencies started wooing him, dangling Dawood as the carrot, Rajan got carried away and did not think twice," said the source. They said Singh and joint commissioner D Sivanandan had pursued the case and were instrumental in clearing the Mumbai police team's visit to Bangkok to study the sequence of events of the attack on Rajan, believing bringing him back would have a direct impact on the Mumbai gangland killings.