Mumbai, Nov. 3 :    Mumbai, Nov. 3:  A month and a half after he survived an attempt on his life, mobster Chhota Rajan today struck back from his hospital bed in Bangkok. Rajan's hitmen gunned down three suspected associates of Chhota Shakeel, his rival and a Dawood Ibrahim confidant, raising the spectre of a gangwar in the country's commercial capital. Police, who were caught unawares by the early-morning strikes in Panvel on Mumbai's outskirts, were put on high alert immediately. All police stations were told to step up vigil on the rival gangs and thwart any attempt to unleash a vendetta violence. 'We are closely monitoring the situation,' police commissioner M.N. Singh said, confirming a link between the September 15 attack on Rajan and the killings. 'We will not allow anyone to create disturbances here.' Immediately after Shakeel's hitmen had shot and wounded Rajan in a Bangkok apartment, the city police had tightened security in anticipation of revenge attacks. The vigil, however, relaxed within weeks as Rajan showed no signs of getting back at his attackers and police officials thought that the injured gangster, caught in a legal tangle over his deportation, wouldn't retaliate till he had fully recovered. Police sources say Rajan's gang may have laid a trap for Shakeel's associates, one of whom was Vinod Chandu Shetty, a hotel owner from Chembur. They had been called to Panvel shortly after midnight, apparently to cut a deal. But the two cars they were travelling in were stopped by the Rajan gang on the way. The other two killed were identified as Mohammad Shakeel and Shankar Iyer, owner of a cooking gas agency in Chembur. Satish Hegde, who was travelling with Shetty in his car, was seriously injured in the attack. Hegde owns a dance bar in the area. Deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the Mumbai police was determined to bring Rajan back and try him for at least 17 serious cases pending against him. He said the Centre had assured the state government that it would make all attempts to get Rajan deported. Bhujbal had met Union home minister L.K. Advani and external affairs minister Jaswant Singh early this week to expedite the don's deportation. Bhujbal, who is also the state home minister, said the three-member Mumbai police team camping in Bangkok was asked to return after the Thai authorities refused to deal with it. He quoted Thailand as saying that it would only deal with the Union government about Rajan's deportation. The Centre had recently revoked Rajan's passport at the insistence of the Maharashtra government. 'So now, his deportation should not be a problem,' Bhujbal said. The Maharashtra government had earlier accused the Centre of dragging its feet on the deportation issue. Rajan had in the past helped Indian intelligence agencies in their fight against the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence as he got several key Dawood aides killed. The deputy chief minister said the Centre should not try to extradite the gangster since India did not have an extradition treaty with Thailand and the process would take too long.