Underworld don Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan is alive with AIIMS and Delhi Police rejecting reports of his death due to COVID-19.

This comes after several media reports claimed that the gangster had succumbed to coronavirus. 

As per the media reports, the 62-year-old gangster was admitted to AIIMS on April 26.

Rajan is suffering from several comorbidities, including heart problem, diabetes, kidney failure, hernia, and hypertension.

Dawood Ibrahim’s arch-rival was arrested from Bali in 2015

Rajan, an ally turned arch-rival of Dawood Ibrahim, was operating from an undisclosed destination near Cambodia when he was finally arrested from Indonesia’s Bali in 2015, on a tip-off from Australian police.

He was later extradited to India.

A special MCOCA court in Mumbai had convicted the extradited gangster and six others of attempting to murder a real estate developer and sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment in March

The Mumbai-born don parted ways with Dawood after Mumbai serial bombings in 1993 leading to a bloody gang war between the two gangsters which left more than 50 dead over the past three decades.

Rajan operated one of the biggest cricket betting cartels and was heavily involved in hawala and drug smuggling.

in 2018, Rajan was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist J Dey in 2011. 

Rise of Chhota Rajan

Rajan started as a black marketeer of movie tickets at Sahakar Cinema in Chembur.

He joined Bada Rajan gang in 1982 and took over the gang after his boss and mentor was shot dead outside the Esplanade court on 21 September 1983.

Rajan started working for Dawood Ibrahim who had fled to Dubai due to the gang war between the D-Company and Arun Gawli gang.

Later, Rajan also escaped to Dubai when the gang war intensified. He eventually became Dawood’s right-hand man.