3 Chhota Rajan aides shot dead in Bangalore

bangalore: three members of the notorious chhota rajan gang were shot dead by the mumbai police with the assistance of their bangalore counterparts near hal airport here on wednesday night in an ``encounter''. this killing brings some reprieve for the city police whose image had taken a beating due to an increase in armed robberies and serious offences against elderly people.joint commissioner of police ajai kumar singh told reporters on thursday: ``the criminals -- jagadish fakira shetty alias jaggu shetty (38), a native of bantwal in dakshina kannada and resident of koliwada, sushil gaonkar (34) and uday alias chikna (32) -- used two 9-mm pistols and a .38 revolver while trying to escape from a special team of police officers from mumbai. ``an exchange of fire took place near the hal bus stop, 1.5 km from bangalore airport, and they were shot dead.'' the police believe the criminals had come to bangalore to commit crime. ``we are verifying whether they were involved in offences in bangalore.'' the three gangsters had air tickets from bangalore to bangkok, along with boarding pass. fake passports issued at guwahati under fictitious names were also recovered from them. the flight was scheduled to leave after midnight. they were shot dead an hour before take-off, the police said. the joint commissioner said mumbai police officers -- inspector vijay salaskar and sub-inspector satish mayekar --had credible information about jaggu shetty and his associates taking shelter in bangalore. ``they came to bangalore and sought our cooperation to locate and apprehend the criminals,'' he added. around 11 pm on wednesday, a 10-member police team waited near punjab national bank on airport road, on a tip-off that the gang will arrive there. ``on noticing jaggu and his associates, the police intercepted them. instead of surrendering, they opened fire at us and we retaliated in self-defence. as a result, all three suffered bullet injuries. they were rushed to bowring hospital where they were declared dead on arrival,'' singh said. however, a closer look at the bodies suggests the victims may have been shot dead from a very close range. according to the police, the gangsters were wanted in several cases of murder, dacoity, robbery, extortion in mumbai and gujarat. jaggu had escaped from the custody of thane police in 1997. he had allegedly killed vinod shetty, owner of j-49, a popular discotheque in juhu. he was booked for businessman sunil sawool's murder in mumbai. he had also killed the owner of hotel milan in santa cruz area last year. jaggu, along with santhosh shetty (his friend, whose whereabouts are not known), is the right-hand man of hemanth poojary who reportedly looks after the activities of chhota rajan gang in india. susheel gaonkar is the main organiser for the gang. chikna is known for armed dacoities in banks and jewellery shops. the police have seized three cellphones, sim cards and air tickets (booked through a well-known travel agent in the city) from them. a study of calls made from cellphones will throw more light on their activities, the police added. complimenting the police team, home minister mallikarjun m. kharge announced a reward of rs 1 lakh. police commissioner t. madiyal also appreciated the team's efforts.