‘Forgetful’ Chhota Rajan seeks pen, paper to note details

Underworld don Chhota Rajan has said that he forgets the major points of the 71 cases lodged against him in Delhi and Mumbai and has demanded a pen, diary, notebook and other stationery stuff. Sometimes he gets confused as what to say before the court as the facts confuse him. To get rid of all this kind of situation, he has requested that he should be provided pen, copy, notebook, diary, etc. Rajan has requested the following provisions in his plea to the court. He has said that if his demands are met, he will be able to note down important things, key points, and will be able to answer the prosecution’s questions.

Rajan is currently lodged in Tihar Jail and is facing prosecution. In the recent past, he had demanded treatment from a panel of expert doctors from AIIMS, alleging that the jail doctors had complicated his health problem. This time, Rajan has demanded stationery items.

A jail source said if the plea is accepted, Rajan will be able to note down basic things to tell before the judge in separate cases lodged against him. “The pen and diary will help him in facing the prosecution. He will not have to be a mute spectator before the judge. He will be aware of the case details and what he will have to say,” the source said.

Rajan had moved a plea before a special court saying it was his fundamental right to have a pen and a notebook. “It is not the first time when someone has demanded pen and notebook. Prisoners demand such things. It is up to the jail superintendent to allow them such thing. If the superintendent thinks that providing pen and book to a particular prisoner will not harm anyone, he (the superintendent) will allow the prisoner to have stationery stuff,” the source said.

Rajan is facing prosecution in 71 cases and facts often confuse him. He also feels that the time that jail authority provides him to meet his counsel is not enough to discuss the whole legal proceedings. Rajan is also unable to meet his counsel as trials against him are conducted through video conferences. He gets minimum time to discuss legal points to discuss with his counsel. Now Rajan hopes that he will be able to note down legal points and submission of the court proceeding.

Deported after being on the run for 27 years, the 55-year-old gangster, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, is lodged in Tihar Jail.

Rajan, once a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was brought to the country to face trial in more than 71 cases of murder, extortion, and drug smuggling lodged against him in Delhi and Mumbai.