Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje

Split with Dawood After the split, he formed his own gang. Reports of bloody shootouts between Rajan and Dawood's hoodlums have been common since the split. In 1994, Rajan lured one of Dawood's favourite "narco-terrorist" Phillu Khan alias Bakhtiyar Ahmed Khan to a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was tortured to death, having been betrayed by his closest aide and sidekick Mangesh "Mangya" Pawar. Both Phillu and Mangya were involved in the 1993 Bombay bombings as police had filed cases on 15 March 1993, alleging their involvement in the blasts.

Assassination attempt In September 2000, Dawood tracked down Rajan to Bangkok. Sharad used his links to track down Rajan in the city, Dawood's aide Chhota Shakeel then led the hit. Posing as a pizza delivery man they gunned down the trusted Rajan hitman Rohit Varma and his wife. This failed assassination attempt proved costly for Dawood. Rajan's associates tracked down and shot dead Vinod Shetty in 2001 in Mumbai, as well as Sunil Soans – another Dawood associate. Both Vinod and Sunil had provided information to Dawood's associates of Rajan's whereabouts. Rajan was extradited to India on 6 November 2015 and is currently in Tihar Prisons, awaiting trial in almost 70 cases.

Conviction A special CBI Court in New Delhi on 25 April 2017 awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment to Rajan and three other accused in the fake passport case.

The Maharashtra MCOCA court found Chhota Rajan guilty of the murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey on 2 May 2018 and handed him life imprisonment.

The Maharashtra MCOCA court found Chhota Rajan guilty of the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty and handed him rigorous life imprisonment on 30 May 2024. In India this is the 6th case in which Chotta Rajan was convicted since his deportation.

Personal life Rajan is married to Sujata Nikalje.

Rajan was addressed as 'Nana' by friends and colleagues. His group was also known as Nana Company.

In popular culture The 2002 Bollywood film, Company had a character Chandu, portrayed by actor Vivek Oberoi, with some resemblances of Chhota Rajan with real-life Dawood Ibrahim gang. Also, the 1999 film Vaastav: The Reality, starring Sanjay Dutt was loosely based on Rajan's life.