Chhota Rajan to be tried for 2001 murder of 1993 Mumbai blasts accused

Hanif Kadawala was one of the accused in the 1993 blasts case; his murder was among a series of hits allegedly ordered by Rajan to avenge the terror attack

Hanif Kadawala

It is time for underworld don Chhota Rajan to answer for the 2001 murder of Bandra hotelier Hanif Kadawala, as the CBI reopens the case more than 16 years later.

Sources said, "The central agency, which has taken over all of Rajan's cases, has sought the details of the Hanif Kadawala murder case from the Mumbai Police. The Bandra police, which had registered the case, has been asked to scan their records and hand over the papers to CBI."

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A police officer said, "The CBI is likely to add MCOCA against Rajan in this case."

Rajan is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, after he was arrested in 2015 in Indonesia, for travelling on a fake passport.

Chhota Rajan. File pic

Hanif Kadawala, a Bandra based hotelier and businessman was killed by three people in his office in February 2001 by three people.

1993 blasts connection
Kadawala, one of the accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, was shot dead in his Bandra (West) office on February 7, 2001. This murder is one of the several hits allegedly ordered by Rajan while hunting down people involved in the 1993 terror attack. The 1993 terror attack was said to be the reason Rajan quit Dawood Ibrahim's gang. Rajan had called the blasts anti-India and had sworn revenge.

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Kadawala was arrested on April 16, 1993, for his alleged involvement in transporting weapons to the city. He was subsequently released on bail in 1998. On the day of the murder, three people - allegedly Rajan's hitmen - entered Kadawala's third floor office around 12.20 pm and fired five rounds from a .32 bore revolver. The businessman was rushed to Bhabha hospital, where he was declared dead.

A bloody meeting
Sources added, "A person had been calling Kadawala for a few days, asking for an appointment for a business proposal. Kadawala asked him to come to his office, and on the day of the shootout, three men came to his Bandra office. They went to his cabin and shot him five times."

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Sources added, "The case was linked to Rajan, as his aides had earlier attempted to kill dismissed additional customs commissioner Somnath Thapa a few months ago. Thapa has an office on the second floor of the same building."

Rajan's name had already cropped up while investigating the murder of four other persons accused in the blasts case - Salim Kurla, Majid Khan, Shakeel Ahmed and Mohammed Jindra.

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