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Indonesia Arrests India's Most Wanted Criminal


Indonesian police have arrested Chhota Rajan, one of India's most wanted gangsters, on the resort island of Bali, Indian federal police said on Oct. 26, 2015.
Indonesian police have arrested Chhota Rajan, one of India's most wanted gangsters, on the resort island of Bali, Indian federal police said on Oct. 26, 2015.

Indonesian police have arrested one of India's most wanted gangsters, sought in more than two dozen murder cases, on the resort island of Bali, Indian federal police said on Monday, ending a two-decade-long international manhunt.

Rajendra Nikalje, widely known as Chhota Rajan, has been on Interpol's wanted list since 1995 for running a crime syndicate that engaged in extortion, arms smuggling and contract killing.

"We tracked Chhota Rajan's movements closely and informed the police in Indonesia and Australia," said Anil Sinha, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Indian capital.

"Eventually the Indonesian police managed to arrest him. We are making arrangements to bring him to India and pursue all criminal cases against him."

Gangsters like Nikalje, who operated in the financial capital, Mumbai, have long drawn attention in India, with their exploits featuring in Bollywood films and newspaper articles.

His arrest comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government ratchets up diplomatic pressure on neighbor and arch-rival Pakistan to hand over his former partner and underworld boss, Dawood Ibrahim, suspected of militant links.

Ibrahim allegedly masterminded India's deadliest bombings, which killed at least 250 people and wounded more than 700 in Mumbai in 1993.

Indian authorities say they have shared evidence of Ibrahim's whereabouts with Pakistan, which rejects India's claim that he is living there.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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