After being brought to India, underworld don Chhota Rajan is likely to be lodged in the same high-security cell in Arthur Road Jail in which 26/11 Mumbai attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab was imprisoned. On Tuesday, a four-member team comprising officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), state home department and Mumbai police visited the jail and inspected its premises.
According to sources, the team which was in the jail around noon, thoroughly inspected the cell and informed the jail authorities of the possibility of Rajan being lodged there. Kasab was lodged in the cell for four years before he was hanged to death.
While Kasab, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) trained Pakistani terrorist, was undergoing trial, authorities decided to construct a special cell for him so that he was not targeted and killed. The state-of-art cell was designed and constructed in record time inside the Arthur Road jail premises. It is a special bullet and explosives-resistant solitary cell, informed the sources.
The cell is also located close to a court building so that the convict does not have to travel long distances to appear for trial. In case of Kasab, the authorities had also built a bomb-proof tunnel from the cell to the court to secure him from being exposed while being escorted to the court.
After Kasab, another 26/11 terror accused, Abu Jundal, was also lodged in the same cell.
According to sources in the intelligence agencies, Rajan has a constant threat to his life from the Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel gangs. There are quite a few undertrials lodged inside the Arthur Road Jail who are members of the Dawood or Shakeel gangs. That is why authorities do not want to take any chance and plan to lodge Rajan in the high security, solitary cell. "Gang wars or rival gang members being attacked inside the jail premises is not an uncommon thing. There have been many cases in the past," said a senior police officer.
There have been instances like OP Singh, a dreaded member of the Rajan gang, being attacked and killed inside Nashik jail by rival gang members. Extradited gangster Abu Salem too was attacked in Taloja jail.
Sources informed Rajan will be on the hit-list and will have to be heavily protected.
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