The Mumbai Police's Crime Branch took decisive action on Friday, arresting the notorious gangster DK Rao from the Chhota Rajan gang. Alongside him, two others, Anil Singh and Mimit Bhuta, found themselves behind bars. This case centers around extortion and intimidation within Mumbai’s builder network, with a sum of 12.5 million rupees on the line.
An officer revealed that on Friday evening, DK Rao, with his associates, attended a court hearing in South Mumbai. It was here that a police team apprehended him, detaining his accomplices on the spot. A builder had borrowed 12.5 million rupees but failed to repay it on time.
As the lender demanded his funds back, DK Rao's crew intervened with threats, promising severe consequences if pressed further. Afraid, the victim turned to the police, leading to a registered complaint under sections 308(4), 61(2), and 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code, case number 596/2025.
DK Rao, Anil Singh, and Mimit Bhuta are set to appear in court on Saturday. This isn’t Rao’s first run-in with extortion charges. Earlier this year, in January, he was arrested for allegedly attempting to extort 25 million rupees from a hotel entrepreneur, alongside six other accomplices. Once hailed as Chhota Rajan’s most trusted confidant, DK Rao held sway in Mumbai's dark alleys.
Mumbai bears a grim underworld legacy. In the 1990s, DK Rao was a prominent figure in the Chhota Rajan gang, even managing criminal endeavors from prison. During the 2002 disagreement between Chhota Rajan and his ally OP Singh, DK Rao’s name resurfaced. Singh was jailed in Nashik amidst conspiracies against him.
Allegedly, DK Rao and his crew orchestrated their transfer to another prison to carry out a plot against OP Singh. In another incident, Rao narrowly escaped a police encounter, feigning death as his four accomplices perished. Throughout the decades of bloody gang wars between underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, DK Rao remained unscathed.
Source: aajtak
While DK Rao was as close to Chhota Rajan as he was despised by Dawood Ibrahim, the D Company often attempted his assassination, yet he always emerged unscathed. Even as Rajan hid abroad, Rao stood resilient in Mumbai’s criminal underbelly. His capture posed significant challenges to Mumbai’s police, given the high risks of trailing him.
Chhota Rajan's capture, another tale altogether, also unfolded like a thriller script. Routinely cloaked behind VOIP calls to remain untrackable, he dropped his guard on October 24, 2015, making a WhatsApp call that sealed his fate, intercepted by security agencies alerting Interpol of his imminent departure.
“I am no longer safe in Australia, I need to move,” Rajan allegedly said during the call, stirring the agencies into action. Discovering a man matching his description en route to Bali, the Australian Federal Police initiated the hunt.
Source: aajtak
Upon landing in Bali, immigration and local police conducted Operation Lockdown, apprehending Rajan within minutes. Following his arrest, Dawood's aide, Chhota Shakeel, remarked, “Rajan’s capture is by our grace; his end is certain.” Across India, the Ministry of Home Affairs quickly sprang into action.
With an extradition treaty between countries, legal proceedings commenced swiftly, helmed by India’s then Minister General V.K. Singh, ensuring meticulous paperwork completion. On the morning of November 6, 2015, a special chartered flight descended upon Delhi’s Palam Airport. Upon touchdown, Rajan humbly kissed the Indian soil.
