Arrested Kalgi aide had Pakistan links

Rajendra Rana alias Raju, a close aide of satta king Dinesh Kalgi, was wanted in connection with the international satta racket for long. Interrogation of Rana, who was arrested by Ahmedabad crime branch late on Sunday evening, has revealed that he had made numerous calls to people in Pakistan in connection with the satta racket.

The police had first arrested Harish Gajjar, another close aide of Dinesh Kalgi. Rana's name came up during the interrogation of Gajjar. It was the duo of Gajjar and Rana which operated the Kalgi's satta racket.

The crime branch arrested Rana after it received a tip-off that he was going to visit his house in Satellite. As he arrived, he was nabbed by waiting cops. The crime branch men were, however, astonished to see Rana's luxurious flat in Ramdevnagar.

Sources said Seemandal flats in Paldi used to be the centre of Kalgi's operations, which were largely in control of the Gajjar-Rana duo. Two LCD sets had been installed in the flat and internet connection was also secured. The raid by crime branch sleuths, however, yielded nothing else in the flat.

Sources in crime branch said Rana used to bet on phone. When a customer would call up on his phone, it would be diverted to another mobile phone. The call would then be recorded and attached to a computer. Rana used to record the calls for two consecutive days and whenever he faced problems with customers, he would threaten them saying their calls were being recorded.

The duo's day would last around 15 hours and every minute one of them would receive at least eight calls.