Jaya Shetty murder: How CBI used gang insider to nail Chhota Rajan

The CBI tracked down several witnesses, including a former member of the Chhota Rajan gang, and similar other leads cited by the Mumbai police

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s team, which investigated the murder of city hotelier Jaya Sesu Shetty in May 2001 allegedly by members of the gang led by gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, also known as Chhota Rajan, had traced and examined several reliable witnesses in the case, including a former gang member, to strengthen its case against the accused, agency officials said on Thursday. On Thursday, a Mumbai special court sentenced Rajan to life imprisonment, with a fine of ₹16 lakh, in the Shetty murder case.

Underworld gangster Chhota Rajan. ( PTI Photo )

During the investigation, the CBI team had tracked down witnesses, including a former member of the alleged Chhota Rajan gang, in addition to other witnesses cited by the Mumbai police that had earlier probed the Shetty murder case, to record their statements to strengthen its case, agency officials said. Their versions, along with the dossiers of other co-accused that were collected by the CBI, could allegedly prove that "they all belong to the organised crime syndicate led by Chhota Rajan", a CBI official said.

"On the basis of evidence collected during the investigation, the CBI was able to prove beyond doubt that the heinous crime of murder of hotel owner Jaya Shetty was committed on the instructions of accused Chhota Rajan as the head of the organised crime syndicate", a CBI official said.

The CBI also ensured that during the course of the Shetty case's trial, the witnesses could depose "without any fear", the official said.

Further, faced with the absence of the original complaints filed by Shetty and his son, before the murder, with various police authorities in Mumbai regarding threatening calls for extortion received from the gang, the CBI investigating team found a way out: it procured certified copies of the police complaints that had been filed in the Bombay High Court, and they were proved in the court during the trial in the Shetty case, according to the agency.

After taking over the investigation, the CBI had filed a supplementary charge sheet on 28 February 2019 against accused Rajan before the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) Court, Mumbai, while Hemant Pujari was shown as a wanted accused. After Rajan's deportation from Indonesia to India in October 2015, pursuant to notifications issued by the then Maharashtra government and the Centre, the CBI had taken over 71 cases pertaining to Rajan from the state police, including the Jaya Shetty case. The Shetty case was initially registered by the Gamdevi police, Mumbai, after two unknown persons had allegedly entered the premises of the Hotel Golden Crown and fired at its owner, Shetty, as he had failed to meet the extortion demand, agency sources said.

Rajan was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018, in another case probed by the CBI pertaining to the murder of Mumbai journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in 2011. Apart from this, he was also convicted in three other cases investigated by CBI pertaining to extortion and attempt to murder.