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Chhota Rajan sentenced to life imprisonment for murder of Mumbai hotelier Jaya Shetty
Chhota Rajan, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, had made headlines last year when he approached the Bombay high court (HC) against Hansal Mehta.
A Mumbai court on Thursday held gangster Chhota Rajan guilty of the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty in 2001 and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Special judge for cases under the Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), AM Patil, convicted Rajan.
Who was Jaya Shetty?
Jaya Shetty was the owner of the Golden Crown hotel at Gamdevi in central Mumbai. He had been getting calls for extortion from the Chhota Rajan gang.
He was shot dead by two members of the gang inside his hotel on May 4, 2001.
Due to the threats, the Maharashtra police had provided him a security cover. However, two months before the murder, his security cover had been withdrawn.
Chhota Rajan is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after his deportation to India following his arrest in Indonesia in October 2015.
According to TOI, two shooters had shot dead Jaya Shetty. The manager and an employee of the hotel chased the shooters and caught one of them.
Chhota Rajan, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, had made headlines last year when he approached the Bombay high court (HC) against filmmaker Hansal Mehta and owners of Matchbox Shots LLP, who produced the web series ‘Scoop'.
In his suit, Rajan had objected to his picture and voice being used by the filmmaker. He had learnt about it from his wife after she saw the trailer of the series. This, according to Rajan, was an infringement of his rights, as the filmmaker did not seek his permission.
He had urged the court to permanently restrain the producers from releasing the series.
The Netflix series was based on the story of journalist Jigna Vora who was accused of murdering a fellow journalist Jyotirmoy Dey (J Dey).
In 2018, Vora was acquitted in the case whereas Chhota Rajan was given a life sentence.
