Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, aka Chhota Rajan, the renowned Mumbai crime boss and gangster known for being the former partner and later the nemesis of Indian-origin mafia Dawood Ibrahim, has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The bail comes on the auspicious occasion of suspension of his life sentence in connection with the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty in 2001. A division bench of the Bombay HC led by Justices Prithviraj Chavan and Revati Mohite Dere that issued the order directed the 67-year-old to furnish a bond of Rs 1 lakh.
Earlier in May, Chhota Rajan was convicted by a special court and sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder case. On May 4, 2001, two alleged members of his gang shot dead Jaya Shetty, the owner of the central Mumbai-located Golden Crown hotel on its first floor. Investigation revealed that ahead of his murder, the hotelier received extortion calls from Hemant Pujari, an affiliate of the jailed gangster Chhota Rajan.
Meanwhile, the gangster had filed an appeal against the special court conviction, seeking suspension of the life sentence and interim bail. However, he is still lodged in the Tihar Jail in Delhi, as he is serving a life sentence in another murder case of crime reporter J. Dey.
Chhota Rajan rose to prominence in the eighties when his boss Dawood Ibrahim fled to Dubai. In 1993, he formed an independent gang. He started his career as a ticket collector and later entered the world of crime with Bada Rajan as his mentor.
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