The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a Bombay High Court order suspending gangster Chhota Rajan’s life sentence in the 2001 murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty and granted him bail.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) appeal against the high court’s October 2024 order, restoring the trial court’s punishment.
The top court took into account the fact that Chhota Rajan stood convicted in four other criminal cases and remained absconding for 27 years. “Four convictions and absconded for 27 years...why suspension of sentence to such a man?” the court wondered.
During the Wednesday hearing, the counsel for Chhota Rajan argued that there was insufficient evidence against him, and that the CBI had closed 47 of 71 cases against him without finding any material. Despite this, the counsel admitted that the current conviction was his second for murder. This admission ultimately led the bench to revoke Chhota Rajan’s bail and cancel his suspension.
Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta appeared for CBI in the matter.
In May 2024, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court convicted Rajan and four others for conspiring to kill Shetty, a city restaurateur who had resisted extortion demands. The gangster, extradited to India in 2015, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the murder.
Shetty, who owned four restaurants in Mumbai, was gunned down on May 4, 2001, at his Golden Crown restaurant on Grant Road. Two assailants stormed the premises and shot him dead. The prosecution said Shetty was targeted after ignoring threats from Rajan’s syndicate.
{{/usCountry}}Shetty, who owned four restaurants in Mumbai, was gunned down on May 4, 2001, at his Golden Crown restaurant on Grant Road. Two assailants stormed the premises and shot him dead. The prosecution said Shetty was targeted after ignoring threats from Rajan’s syndicate.
{{/usCountry}}The MCOCA court convicted Rajan under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant provisions of the MCOCA, and imposed a fine of ₹16 lakh. Three co-accused had faced trial earlier, while Rajan and others were tried separately after their arrest.
Following his conviction, Rajan approached the Bombay High Court challenging the judgment. On October 23, 2024, the division bench suspended the sentence and granted him bail pending appeal, ruling that “execution of sentences allowed by the special court in MCOCA case stands suspended pending the appeal.”
Rajan is already serving life imprisonment for the 2011 murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, in which nine men, including Rajan, were convicted in 2018. He has also been found guilty in the murder of rival gangster Farid Tanasha, in shootings targeting another hotelier B.R. Shetty and a bookie-turned-builder, Ajay Gosalia.
Of the 71 cases registered against him, Rajan has been convicted in seven—six of them in Mumbai—while at least seven more remain pending, according to the prosecution.
The Shetty murder case itself saw multiple trials over two decades. Shooter Ajay Mohite was sentenced to life in 2004, while two others, Pramod Dhonde and Rahul Pansare, were acquitted of murder but jailed for five years for aiding organised crime. Another accused, Kundansingh Rawat, fled the scene with Mohite but was killed in a police encounter in 2003.
The trial continued against absconding accused, including Rajan, until his arrest in October 2015 at Bali airport in Indonesia. He was deported to India the same year, and the Maharashtra government transferred all his cases to the CBI.