File photo dated March 11, 2015, shows underworld gangster Chhota Rajan. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (October 23, 2024) suspended the life sentence of gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan in the 2001 murder case of hotelier Jaya Shetty. The High Court has granted him bail only in this particular case.
Shetty who was the owner of the Golden Crown hotel in South Mumbai, was allegedly facing extortion threats from Rajan’s gang. Following that Mumbai police had provided Shetty security cover, however, the same was withdrawn exactly two months prior to his murder. Shetty was shot dead by two alleged members of Rajan’s gang on the hotel’s first floor on May 4, 2001.
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A Division Bench of judges comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj K. Chavan granted Rajan bail on the grounds of furnishing a bond of ₹1 lakh with one or more sureties for bail. In May 2024, a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) had sentenced the gangster life imprisonment. Rajan had appealed in the High Court against the conviction and sought that the sentence to be suspended. He had appealed the High Court to grant him interim bail.
The Bench on Wednesday said, “Execution of sentences allowed by the special court in the MCOCA case stands suspended pending the appeal.”
Rajan, will, however, continue to remain in prison in other criminal cases. He was earlier convicted for the murder of veteran crime journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, he is serving life term in this case and is lodged in Tihar jail currently.
Published – October 23, 2024 12:13 pm IST
