D-company plots poisoning, Rajan gets separate cooks in Tihar

By Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Unprecedented security cover has been provided to underworld don Chhota Rajan inside the Tihar jail following a poisoning threat by the D-company and Pakistan-based terror groups.

Rajan, 59, lodged in a high security ward of Jail No 2 in Tihar, has been provided with an attached kitchen where food is cooked and served to him after the clearance of jail doctors. Two separate cooks have also been provided by the jail administration to Rajan, the arch rival of India's most wanted don Dawood Ibrahim.

Highly placed sources said that cooks serve food to Rajan, wit the meal, according to the jail manual, including one bowl of vegetables and dal served with chappatis.

"The doctors check the food daily. First the cook who has prepared the lunch (or dinner) is asked to taste the food, then, after 5 to 10 minutes, it is served to Rajan," revealed a source.

Taking the maximum precautions, jail authorities even serve tea, snacks and water to Chota Rajan only once its cleared by the doctors.

Besides the Superintendent of Jail No 2 and other senior authorities, central intelligence agencies monitor Rajan's activities inside the jail. At present, Rajan is kept in a separate cell of a ward inside the jail No 2). Dreaded underworld don and former Bihar MP, Mohammad Shahabuddin, and Delhi's most dangerous gangster Neeraj Bawana are also lodged in the same ward.

Besides the Superintendent, 4 to 5 Assistant Superintendents are also deployed at Jail No 2, while the Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP), which has been guarding Tihar for over three decades, also monitors outer periphery of the Jail No 2.

Rajan is also not allowed to go outside the ward premises.

"Only for sometime in the day is Rajan allowed to take a stroll in a veranda, adjacent to his cell," a source said.

For various criminal trials Rajan faces in different cities, a video conference facility is also provided to him inside the ward so as to restrict the need for his movement outside.

Asked about the threats of D-company to eliminate Rajan inside the ward, Delhi's Director General, Prisons, Sandeep Goyal refused to comment. "I can only assure that Chhota Rajan is lodged in Tihar and his security is monitored round the clock," Goyal told IANS without elaborating on the issue.

However, sources said that intelligence inputs indicate that D-company which has its presence in Tihar, was plotting to poison the food served to Rajan.

Rajan, whose gang members are still scattered around the Middle East and Southeast Asia, reportedly keeps a tab on D-company's nefarious operations, a source said.

A former ally of Dawod Ibrahim, the Mumbai-born Rajan was operating from undisclosed destination near Cambodia when he was finally arrested from Indonesia's Bali in 2015, on a tip off from Australian police. He was later extradited to India where he faces over four dozen criminal cases including the sensational murder of famous Mumbai crime reporter J. Dey.

Rajan operates one of the biggest cricket betting cartels and is also involved in hawala and drug smuggling. He parted ways with Dawood after Mumbai serial bombings in 1993. Since then, the bloody gang war between Rajan and Dawood groups have seen over 50 killings in the past three decades