New Delhi: In a major legal twist, the Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail of notorious mafia don Rajendra S. Nikalje, alias Chhota Rajan, in the high-profile 2001 murder of Mumbai hotelier Jaya Shetty.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s special leave petition (SLP), challenging the Bombay High Court’s earlier order granting bail to Rajan and suspending his life sentence.
The Court noted CBI’s submission, represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, that Rajan had been convicted in four other cases and had remained absconding for nearly 27 years.
Rajan, who is currently serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail for the 2011 murder of crime journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, had appealed against his life term in the Shetty case after being convicted by the Special MCOCA Court. The High Court had temporarily suspended his sentence in October last year, granting bail, but he could not avail it due to his ongoing sentence in Delhi.
The 2001 murder case, part of a larger dossier of 71 major offences handed over to Indonesia after Rajan’s arrest in Bali, involved the assassination of Shetty, owner of the Golden Crown Hotel in South Mumbai. Two gunmen carried out the hit on May 4, 2001, allegedly under Rajan’s orders. The killing shook the hospitality industry and political circles, as Shetty had previously been under police protection, withdrawn just months before his murder.
The Special MCOCA Court, led by Judge A.M. Patil, found Rajan guilty along with co-accused Rahul Pansare, Ajay Mohite, and Pramod Dhonde, sentencing them all to life imprisonment.
