New Delhi: All of this week there has been reports of gangster Chhota Rajan being critically ill and in hospital abroad. Some reports said he was dead, but on Friday the man called up India TV and claimed that he is not ill and is still alive.

Rajan is a fugitive and faces charges of murder, extortion and smuggling in India. He is seen as an arch rival of underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim, one of India's most wanted men.

 He said he had been hit by bullets in the stomach and thigh many years ago, referring to an attack on him in 2000, but denied that he was on dialysis.