Mumbai:  Will the recent arrest of dreaded gangster D.K. Rao (53) weaken the Chhota Rajan gang in Mumbai? That is the question being asked by the police and observers of the city crime scene. 

The Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the city police has arrested Rao,  who has his base in Dharavi, along with six of his accomplices after a complaint was filed by one Ramdas Vishwakarma (74) accusing Rao and his gang of extorting  Rs 2.5 crore from him. 

Sources said even though Chhota Rajan, who is currently in judicial custody at Delhi's Tihar jail in connection with a slew of criminal cases in Mumbai and other places, his network of shooters, informers and financiers is almost intact. "Rao's arrest is certainly a setback albeit temporary. But then he has others who are willing to do Rajan's bidding," a police official observed. 

The Mumbai Crime Branch is set to investigate the financial transactions of D.K. Rao for allegedly accepting money from other accused in exchange for mediating in a hotel dispute case. Additionally, WhatsApp voice notes found on the mobile phone of arrested accused Abubakar Siddiqui are being examined, and forensic analysis of voice samples from Rao and other accused will be conducted.

The Crime Branch had arrested Rao, Abubakar Abdullah Siddiqui (37), Imran Kaleem Shaikh (31), Riyaz Kaleem Shaikh (40), Asif Sattan Khan alias Saif Darbar (36), Javed Jalaluddin Khan (35), and Hanif Ismail Naik alias Annu Bhai (53) on January 23 for allegedly demanding ₹2.5 crore.

Rao has a criminal record with 42 serious cases including extortion, murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Investigators suspect that  Rao was financially compensated by the accused for facilitating the extortion attempt. To verify this, the Crime Branch will scrutinize his financial transactions. Moreover, WhatsApp voice notes recovered from Abubakar Siddiqui’s mobile suggest discussions between the accused regarding the takeover of the hotel. 

Rao, whose real name is Ravindra Mallesh Bora, used to lord over Dharavi where he lived in a palatial house. Surviving police encounters and underworld rivalry Rao is known for his remarkable escapes from police encounters. He has survived three encounters and survived despite seven bullet wounds in one incident. According to a former encounter specialist, police once mistook him for dead after an encounter and brought him to a hospital on a stretcher. However, Rao suddenly regained consciousness and pleaded with doctors to save him. The doctors successfully removed all bullets and saved his life.

During the 1991-92 period, Rao escaped a police shootout. In 1993, after the Mumbai serial blasts, Chhota Rajan split from Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company, and Rao followed Rajan. It is said that Chhota Shakeel tried to convince him to join Dawood’s gang, but Rao refused and remained loyal to Rajan.

As a result, Dawood’s gang started targeting him, tipping off the police about his whereabouts. This led to multiple police encounters, but Rao narrowly escaped each time.

Born and raised in Matunga’s slums, Rao’s early years were filled with poverty. He eventually joined a gang of thieves and robbers and soon became involved in bank robberies and extortion. Under Chhota Rajan’s leadership, he rose through the ranks, becoming a feared gangster involved in kidnapping, extortion, and murder. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, DK Rao was one of Mumbai’s most dreaded criminals.

In 2013, he was implicated in the Ajay Gosalia shooting case and was later arrested for murder. He was released from prison in July 2016 but soon resumed his extortion racket. In October 2017, he demanded a Rs 50 lakh ransom from a builder involved in a slum redevelopment project, threatening him to stop the construction.

In recent years, DK Rao expanded his operations into slum redevelopment and settling property disputes.