MUMBAI :
A SPECIAL court in Mumbai
on Thursday sentenced gangster Chhota Rajan to life
imprisonment in the case of
murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty
here in 2001.
Special judge for cases
under the Maharashtra
Control Of Organised Crime
Act (MCOCA), A M Patil, held
Rajan guilty under the Indian
Penal Code provisions for
murder. Jaya Shetty owned the
Golden Crown Hotel at
Gamdevi in central Mumbai.
Shetty was shot dead by two
alleged members of Rajan’s
gang on the hotel’s first floor
on May 4, 2001.
Police had registered the
murder case based on a complaint filed by the hotel manager.
A probe into the case
indicated Shetty had received
extortion calls from Hemant
Pujari, a member of the
Chhota Rajan gang, and was
killed because of his failure to
pay the money. As there have
been a number of cases filed
against Rajan for extortion
and related offences, charges
under the stringent MCOCA
were also added against him
and other accused in the case
of the hotelier’s murder.
In previous two separate trials, three other accused in the
murder case were convicted,
and one was acquitted due to
lack of evidence.
Rajan, already serving life
imprisonment for the murder
of journalist J Dey in 2011, is
currently lodged at the Tihar
jail in Delhi.