India says it should not face problem in bringing back Rajan

India today said it does not anticipate any problem in bringing back Chhota Rajan from Indonesia as he was arrested on a Red Corner Notice issued by Interpol.

“This is not an ordinary arrest. This is an arrest of a person with Red Corner Notice for which a whole different protocol operates,” India’s Ambassador to Indonesia Gurjit Singh said.

“That is why I said you don’t have to talk too much about extradition because when you issue a Red Corner Notice to Interpol, there is a whole different ball game and since we have a very good relationship with Indonesia we do not anticipate a problem because after all they have clearly told us that this person was arrested on our request,” he told an Indian news channel.

The arrest was made on a tip off from Australian police that 55-year-old Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Mohan Kumar alias Chhota Rajan, the powerful aide-turned-rival of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, has flown from Sydney to Bali, where he was arrested on Sunday.

Once a close aide Dawood, Rajan parted ways after the 1993 Mumbai blasts and remained his fierce rival ever since and is wanted in about 20 murder cases.

Asked about bringing back Rajan to India, the Indian envoy said, “We have not only an extradition treaty, we also have a treaty on mutual legal assistance and both the treaties are enforced. We hope that this will be available to this case and any other case.”

“I also want to clarify that these are not the only recourse. In the past we have gone beyond these treaties to fulfill our objectives. So I don’t think it is the absence or presence of any legal document. The point I would like to emphasise is that India and Indonesia have a very warm relationship. It is multi-faceted and deep,” Singh said.

CBI had issued a Red Corner Notice against Rajan in July, 1995 on the request of Mumbai Police which was probing cases against him.