Chhota Rajan gets 8-year jail term for attempt to murder
Special judge A.T. Wankhede in his order also said that a sum of Rs 5 lakh should be paid to Shetty as compensation for the injuries suffered by him.
Mumbai: A special MCOCA court on Tuesday convicted deported gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan and five of his aides in the 2012 attempt to murder case of hotelier B.R. Shetty. The court sentenced them to eight years’ imprisonment and impos-ed a fine of '5 lakh on each of them. This is Rajan’s second conviction in Mum-bai and third in India.
Special judge A.T. Wankhede in his order also said that a sum of Rs 5 lakh should be paid to Shetty as compensation for the injuries suffered by him.
Apart from Rajan the court has convicted Nityanand Nayak, Selvin Daniel, Rohit Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalia, Dilip Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder under IPC and other sections of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). While another accused Gurudeep Singh alias Bobby Prem Singh Raina is still wanted in this case.
The prosecution case is that two motorcycle-borne shooters belonging to organised crime syndicate headed by Chhota Rajan had opened fire at Shetty on October 3, 2012. The bullet pierced into Shetty’s shoulder causing him serious injury. The bullets were shot when Shetty came near the motorcycle on New Link road, near Tanishq Showroom.
According to Mumbai Police’s Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) Rajan had ordered his sharpshooter Kalia to shoot Shetty. However, Kalia, who was in judicial custody for his involvement in senior journalist J. Dey’s murder, asked his aide Gurudeep Singh to approach Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh to carry out the killing.
Nayak and Daniel then conducted a recce and helped the shooters identify Shetty. On the date of the incident, Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh followed Shetty on a motorcycle and opened fire at him.
Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat examined 49 witnesses to prove case against the accused. Confessional statements of the four accused also helped the prosecution prove charges against them. Though the accused had retracted their confessional statements claiming they were taken under duress, the judge held that all the procedure to record confessional statements were followed and they were voluntary and hence were acceptable as evidence against the accused.