Bombay HC refuses pre-arrest bail to Chhota Rajan’s niece

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday rejected anticipatory bail application of Priyadarshini Nikalje, niece of gangster Chhota Rajan, booked for trying to extort

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday rejected anticipatory bail application of Priyadarshini Nikalje, niece of gangster Chhota Rajan, booked for trying to extort ₹50 lakh from a local builder.

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“In the nature of accusation levelled against the applicant (Priyadarshini Nikalje), her custodial interrogation is very much necessary,” said justice Bharati Dangre while rejecting the pre-arrest bail plea.

Justice Dangre also took into consideration that crime took place in March 2020, investigation with regards to other accused was complete, and charge sheet was filed against them, but Nikalje has been absconding since.

The builder, in his complaint to the anti-ransom squad of Pune Police, said that he had promised to buy a car for his wife and her sister last Diwali, but he could not fulfil the promise. His wife and her sister then left his house and disappeared without trace.

In this backdrop, the builder claimed that he received a call on March 8, 2020 from an unknown number. The caller told him that he was calling from the Seth’s office —gangster Chhota Rajan’s office in Chembur, and verbally abused him.

Later he received another call wherein the caller identified herself as Tai Nikalje and asked him to meet her in her office in Pune. Following this, an alleged accomplice of Nikalje, Dhiraj Sable, called the builder and told him that Nikalje is Chhota Rajan’s niece and looks after Rajan’s business in Pune.

The builder further alleged that when she met Nikalje, she told him that his wife and sister-in-law had approached one of her accomplishes, another accused in the case. She further claimed that a police case has been registered against the builder and demanded ₹50 lakh to settle the matter.

In her anticipatory bail plea, Nikalje, however, maintained that she is a social worker and that she was helping the builder’s distressed wife in that capacity. She claimed that the builder himself had criminal antecedents and his version cannot be accepted as truth.

The claims, however, failed to impress upon justice Dangre who refused to grant pre-arrest bail to her primarily in view of the seriousness of the allegations against her and the fact that she was absconding for about eight months.