New Delhi [India], September 17 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail of gangster Chhota Rajan, which was granted to him by the Bombay High Court in October 2024 in the 2001 murder of Jaya Shetty.
Rajan, originally Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, had been convicted and sentenced to serve life imprisonment in the said murder case in May 2024. Subsequently, on appeal, he was granted bail by the High Court.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued the ruling on a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that had sought cancellation of Chhota Ranjan's bail.
The Additional Solicitor General (ASG), SV Raju, appearing for CBI, submitted that Rajan has been convicted in four cases, which include two murders.
The top court also noted that Rajan had been absconding from authorities for a period of 27 years.
Ranjan's counsel defended his client's case, claiming that there was no evidence against Rajan in the case..
The Court was of the view that the accused, Rajan, is a person with multiple convictions, and thus it was not inclined to grant relief to him.
"The man has four convictions; why suspension of sentence for such a man?" the top court asked Rajan's counsel.
In response to the argument that Rajan has been acquitted in many cases, the Court stated that the reason for these acquittals is that witnesses against him did not come forward. Thus, the Court ordered cancellation of Rajan's bail.