MCOCA charges dropped against Chhota Rajan in 1999 murder case

The special MCOCA court has dropped stringent charges against the gangster and transferred the case to the regular court for trial.

Mumbai: Twenty three years after the murder of Anil Sharma, an alleged member of the Dawood gang, the special court has held that the key accused gangster Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan cannot be prosecuted under the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for want of prosecution sanction.

The prosecution has alleged that Sharma, who was out on bail, was a victim of gang rivalry and an organized crime syndicate headed by Rajan. (AFP)

The special MCOCA court has dropped stringent charges against the gangster and transferred the case to the regular court for trial.

Sharma was allegedly shot by the members of the Rajan gang on September 2, 1999, while he was in his car driven by complainant Sanju Shah near Teli Galli cross lane in Andheri.

The prosecution had claimed that Sharma was one of the members of the team that carried out a shootout in JJ hospital on September 12, 1992. The shooting was allegedly carried out by gang members of Dawood Ibrahim.

The prosecution has alleged that Sharma, who was out on bail, was a victim of gang rivalry and an organized crime syndicate headed by Rajan.

As per the MCOCA Act, approval from the police officer not below the rank of the Deputy Inspector General of Police is a must before registering a case under MCOCA. In the present case, the defence had pleaded that the sanction order signed by the authority had no mention of Rajan.

The CBI which is probing the case has accepted that there is no sanction under the MCOC Act taken against the accused - Rajan. The prosecution, however, argued that the non-inclusion of the accused in the approval order under the MCOC Act is not fatal to the investigation of that accused.

The court, however, held, “the grant of sanction under the MCOC Act is a prerequisite condition to proceed the trial against the accused under the provisions of MCOC Act. For want of such sanction, the applicant/accused cannot be prosecuted for the offence punishable under the MCOC Act. Due to such a legal flaw, the accused needs to be discharged for the offence punishable under the charges of the MCOC Act.”

However, the court held that there is sufficient evidence against Rajan to prosecute him. Hence, the court refused to completely discharge him, but only dropped the charges of MCOCA. Rajan will continue to face trial under the Indian Penal Code for the murder of Sharma.