Man claiming to be Chhota Rajan speaks to NDTV

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Mumbai, April 26, 2014 (NDTV): On phone, the man laughed and denied that he is seriously ill or dying. "Am I a ghost speaking? They are saying my kidneys have failed, I am serious, I am dying. I don’t know."
 
All of this week there have been reports of gangster Chhota Rajan being critically ill and in hospital abroad. Some reports said he was dead. Rajan is a fugitive and faces charges of murder, extortion and smuggling in India. He is seen as an arch rival of underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim, one of India’s most wanted men.
 
On Friday, ’Chhota Rajan’ called up NDTV’s Sunil Singh and said he was healthy and well.

NDTV recorded the conversation. The voice matches earlier conversations that Sunil Singh has had with the man who claims to be Rajan.
 
He said he had been hit by bullets in the stomach and thigh many years ago, referring to an attack on him in 2000, but denied that he was on dialysis. "Brother, who says so? I have no kidney problems and am not undergoing any dialysis," he said on the phone.
 
Media reports said this week that Rajan has kidney problems from infection that he got from improper treatment of his bullet wounds and was admitted in critical condition to a private hospital in Malaysia.
 
"Because of the bullet which hit my stomach, I lost 14 % of my intestines. I am healthy. I have no health problems at all. It is 14 years since my kidneys failed but I am fine. These are all lies," the man said.
 
"I didn’t die by the bullets of Dawood (Ibrahim) and (Chhota) Shakeel. Nor will they be able to kill me. I think they are behind this, but I don’t know," he said when asked why such reports had suddenly surfaced.
 
Chhota Shakeel, another alleged gangster and an associate of Dawood Ibrahim, was quoted some years ago as admitting that he had planned the attack on Chhota Rajan in Bangkok in 2000.  
 
Indian intelligence agencies believe Dawood and Shakeel are both in Pakistan.
 
Rajan’s real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje. He began his alleged career in crime by selling movie tickets in black in the 1980s. Police say he joined an underworld gang and was soon working with Dawood. They reportedly parted ways after differences over the 1993 Bombay serial blasts, in which Dawood is an accused. 

Rajan fled the country in the late 1980s. Police sources claim he is more into the real estate business now.