NEW DELHI: Indian underworld don and notorious gangster Rajendra Nikalje, also known as Chhota Rajan, is still alive.
He was admitted to a hospital in New Delhi on 26 April after being tested positive for COVID-19. According to news reports, it was said that Chhota Rajan has died due to the coronavirus.
The news was carried by all local Indian media outlets. However, as per Indian news agency, Chhota Rajan is still alive and is admitted at AIIMS for treatment of COVID-19.
Rajan, 61, has been lodged in New Delhi’s high-security Tihar prison since his arrest after deportation from Bali, Indonesia in 2015. Last year, Rajan was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist J Dey in 2011.
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was investigating 68 cases against him pertaining to extortion and murder in Mumbai.
Last week, the special CBI court in Mumbai acquitted Rajan and his aide in connection with the murder of Hanif Kadawala, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.
