Mumbai: The Crime Branch of Mumbai police on Saturday arrested a member of the Chhota Rajan gang from Surat in connection with a 1994 robbery attempt case.
An official said the man, Sakir Barkat Ali Lakhani, 59, was on the run for 29 years and living in Gujarat with a different identity. He has 10 cases registered against him in Mumbai and Gujarat. A crime branch official said that Lakhani married after fleeing to Ahmedabad and has a daughter.
1994 Chembur robbery
According to the police, in 1994, Lakhani, along with four of his associates of the Chhota Rajan gang, conducted an armed robbery at a real estate broker’s office at Sindhi Camp in Chembur. They also attacked an on-duty police officer, a police official said.
A case was registered against them for dacoity and attempted murder under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Arms Act. All of them were arrested later.
The sessions court had sentenced them to five years in jail, but Lakhani escaped after three of his associates were killed in a police encounter. The court issued a non-bailable warrant against him. When the crime branch investigated the case with the help of technology, it was found that he was hiding in Surat. Accordingly, a trap was laid and he was nabbed on Saturday.
