Fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan extradited back to India after more than 20 years on the run

An alleged Indian gangster who spent more than 20 years on the run arrived in Delhi on Friday to face charges relating to dozens of crimes including murder, extortion and drug trafficking after he was arrested in Indonesia.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Chhota Rajan, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, had been flown by Indian Air Force jet to Delhi after he was tracked down to the resort island of Bali and arrested last week.

Indonesian authorities had received a tip-off from Australian police, who confirmed in September that the 55-year-old had been living there under an assumed identity.

“Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan alias Mohan Kumar has been successfully brought back to India on deportation from Indonesia today morning,” the CBI said in a statement.

“He is in [the] custody of CBI-Interpol. Legal formalities are in process.”

Rajan was the alleged former right-hand man of Mumbai crime kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, who is suspected of masterminding the 1993 bomb blasts in the city that killed more than 250 people in retaliation for anti-Muslim violence a few months earlier.