Mumbai: Chhota Rajan aide denies association with gang in court

The state prosecution suffered a setback on Monday when gangster DK Rao turned hostile. Appearing before a special court under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case of bookie-turned-builder Ajay Gosalia’s attempted murder, Rao denied any association with Chhota Rajan’s gang.

The prosecution had called Rao as a witness to establish a plot to kill Gosalia, who was fired at five times on August 28, 2013. Rao, whose real name is Ravi Mallesh Bora, is believed to have joined Chhota Rajan’s gang around 1996. According to a statement he had given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016, Rao admitted to being an associate of Chhota Rajan, the alias of gangster Rajendra Nikalje. Rao told the CBI that Chhota Rajan had targeted Gosalia for being an informer to both the police and rival gangs.

“After serial bomb blast in Mumbai in 1993, Chhota Rajan group had separated from Dawood gang. Ajay Gosalia was one of the informers of the said gang. After the separation of the gang, he used to provide information to Mumbai police and Chhota Shakeel about Rajan and his gang members,” Rao said in his statement to the CBI. HT has a copy of the statement.

Read more: Mumbai underworld henchman DK Rao set to testify against ex-boss Chhota Rajan

Rao told the CBI that the order to execute Gosalia was given by Chhota Rajan to Satish Kalia who was convicted in May for the murder of journalist J Dey. Rao’s statement also says that one of Gosalia’s shooters, Kaushik Rajgour, had confessed to Rao that he had fired at Gosalia on Kalia’s instruction.

“Kaushik Rajgour also told me that Satish Kalia instructed them that the job will be done properly as job was assigned by Rajan to him,” Rao told the CBI.

However, in court on Monday, when the special public prosecutor called out the names of members Rao had claimed to have known in his statement, Rao denied knowing any of them, including Chhota Rajan.

Rao also denied giving any statement to the police. He claimed that in October 2016, a crime branch officer had called him in connection to Gosalia’s case. Rao claimed he had not heard of Gosalia until the officer briefed him about the firing. Rao also claimed that the officer only recorded Rao’s address and details, but no statement of Rao’s was recorded.

Soon after he made this statement in court, Rao was declared hostile by the prosecution.

Rao began his professional life as a watchman in a building in Dharavi in 1994. He soon formed a gang that carried out robberies. After joining Chhota Rajan’s gang in 1996, he rose up the ranks quickly, earned the reputation of being able to carry out the most impossible of killings and even recruited for Chhota Rajan while being incarcerated. Over the years, Rao has been charged with and cleared more than 40 cases.