Underworld Gangster Chhota Rajan Discharged In 1999 Murder Case

A sessions court in Mumbai has discharged gangster Chhota Rajan in a case related to the 1999 murder of an alleged member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang.

The court allowed Chhota Rajan's discharge plea on December 17. The detailed order became available on Tuesday.

As per the prosecution, Anil Sharma, an alleged member of the Dawood gang, was shot by Chhota Rajan's men in suburban Andheri on September 2, 1999.

Anil Sharma was allegedly part of the team that had carried out a shootout at JJ hospital here on September 12, 1992. The shooting had been allegedly carried out by the Dawood gang to kill a rival gang member.

Anil Sharma was killed due to the rivalry between Dawood and Rajan gangs, the prosecution claimed.

But the judge, in his order, noted that the prosecution "did not bring or collect any incriminating evidence against this applicant (Rajan) except the words allegedly uttered by the informant (complainant).

"Upon perusal of the charge-sheet, there is no prima-facie evidence available to prove conspiracy of this applicant along with the other accused to commit the murder of Sharma," the court added.

As there was no sufficient material to frame charges, Chhota Rajan was entitled for discharge, the court said.

Chhota Rajan, lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail since his deportation from Bali in Indonesia in 2015, is facing trials in several other cases. He has been convicted in the journalist J Dey murder case.
 

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