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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court Wednesday cancelled the bail granted to gangster Chhota Rajan in the case pertaining to the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty.
Hearing a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the Bombay High Court’s order suspending his sentence and granting him bail, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta noted that Rajan was convicted in more cases and had been absconding for 27 years.
“Four convictions and absconding for 27 years… Why suspension of sentence to such a man?” remarked Justice Mehta.
Jaya Shetty, who was the owner of the Golden Crown hotel in Mumbai, was shot dead by two unidentified people on May 4, 2001. The investigation into his murder was among the 71 cases handed over to the CBI after Rajan was deported to India from Indonesia in 2015.
Shetty was killed for refusing to pay ransom amount. He had been provided security cover by the Mumbai police, but it was withdrawn two months before his murder. The manager of the hotel and another employee had managed to run behind the shooters and catch one of them.
On Wednesday, Rajan’s counsel contended that there was no evidence in the case and that the CBI had not found any material against him in 47 of the 71 cases, and closed them.
In May, a special court convicted Rajan under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) and awarded him life imprisonment in the case. It was the second life sentence awarded to the gangster who is already serving life imprisonment following his conviction in the journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case.
