SC to hear CBI plea over suspending gangster Chhota Rajan’s life term

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Central Bureau of Investigation’s petition challenging a Bombay High Court order suspending the life sentence of gangster Chhota Rajan in the hotelier Jaya Shetty murder case and granted him bail.

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A three-judge Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath has issued notice to Rajan asking him to respond to the CBI’s petition in four weeks.

In May 2024, a special court convicted Rajan for murdering Shetty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Acting on an appeal filed by Rajan, the Bombay High Court, on October 23, 2024, suspended his sentence and granted him bail.

The CBI has challenged the high court’s order before the Supreme Court.

Shetty, who owned the Golden Crown hotel at Gamdevi in central Mumbai, was shot dead by two members of Rajan’s gang on the hotel’s first floor on May 4, 2001. Shetty had allegedly received extortion calls from Hemant Pujari, a member of the Chhota Rajan gang, and was killed after he failed to pay the money.

Serving a life term for the murder of veteran crime reporter J Dey, Rajan is currently lodged in Tihar jail.