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Pak gunmen claim Dawood aide hired them: PTI

Jaishree Balasubramanian in Bangkok

Three Pakistanis, arrested by the Thai police in connection with the murder of an Indian jeweller, have admitted to have been hired by a close aide of Dubai-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to kill rival gangster Chhota Rajan, The Bangkok Post reported on Thursday.

The gunmen said Dawood associate Chhota Shakeel had hired them for Rs 40 million, to eliminate Rajan.

While four of 10 gunmen have been arrested, two are suspected to have fled the country.

A senior Bangkok police official had telephoned Shakeel in India and asked him "to tell the rest of his men to surrender to the Thai police," the Post said.

Armed men barged into the apartment of Indian jeweller Rohit D'Souza alias Michael last Friday and opened fire, killing the merchant on the spot while seriously injuring his wife and another person identified by the police as Vijay Daman.

Though the Thai police have not formally identified Daman as Chhota Rajan, the country's media has said that the mafia leader had entered Thailand under that name.

Of the four arrested, three are Pakistanis and one is a Thai. The four who are on the run are also reported to be Pakistanis, the Post said, quoting the police.

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