Gangster Chhota Rajan’s life sentence suspended by Bombay High Court; grants him bail

In the Jaya Shetty murder case, Bombay HC grants Chhota Rajan bail; however, he will remain in jail for other criminal cases.

Indian gangster Rajendra Nikalje, widely known as Chhota Rajan’s life sentence, was suspended by the Bombay High Court in connection with the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty in Mumbai in 2001 and has been granted bail in the case. Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan, a division bench of Justices, directed the gangster to furnish a bond of ₹1 lakh for his bail. However, Chhota Rajan will continue to remain in jail in connection with other criminal cases.

Bombay High Court suspends life imprisonment sentence for Chhota Rajan.

A special court convicted Chhota Rajan in the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in May. Rajan then filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court against the conviction, seeking the sentence to be suspended and for him to be granted bail in the interim. Now, the Bombay High Court has suspended his life imprisonment sentence.

Jaya Shetty’s murder by Chhota Rajan.

Jaya Shetty was a hotelier who owned the Golden Crown Hotel in Gamdevi in central Mumbai. On May 4, 2001, Jaya was shot dead by two alleged members of Chhota Rajan’s gang on the hotel’s first floor. A probe had suggested that Jaya received extortion calls from Hemant Pujari, a member of the Chhota Rajan gang, and was killed because of his failure to pay the money.

Chhota Rajan is already serving a life sentence for the murder of veteran crime reporter J Dey and is currently lodged at the Tihar jail in Delhi. Last year, a special CBI court acquitted Chhota Rajan for orchestrating the high-profile murder of Dr. Datta Samant, a renowned Mumbai trade union leader, who was shot dead in 1997.