Chhota Rajan acquitted in 2004 attempt to murder case
A special court acquitted gangster Chhota Rajan from a 21-year-old case of attempting to kill a businessman in 2004 stating that nothing incriminating was brought on record to show that Rajan was involved in the crime. Rajan is currently serving life imprisonment for the murder of journalist J Dey in Tihar jail.
According to the prosecution, a businessman named Nandkumar Harchandani was constructing a building under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme in Andheri in 2004. A dispute over payment arose between Harchandani and the previous owners of the land and a contractor.
The prosecution claimed that Harchandani was accused of non-payment of their dues and was receiving threat calls. The prosecution claimed that the calls were made by Rajan and that the gangster ordered to have him killed, for which the logistics, including weapons and shooters, were arranged.
On September 16, 2004, six to seven persons entered the office of Harchandani's firm and opened fire at an accountant present there. The assailants also referred to a 'bhai'. The accountant was assaulted and when the others created an alarm, the assailants left. An attempt to murder case was filed at Andheri police station.
Police claimed that the men were working on the directions of Rajan and he was named a wanted accused. After his extradition to India in 2015, Rajan was tried in the case. The prosecution examined a witness, who ran a security business, who had said that he received a call from Rajan. During the trial, however, he said that he does not know 'Chhota Rajan' personally and that he was not called by the police to identify his voice to determine whether it was Rajan who had called him.
'Upon perusal of the testimony of the witness, it is seen that he is not certain as to whether the call was of Chhota Rajan and therefore, the testimony of the witness is not sufficient to hold the present accused guilty of the present crime,' special judge A T Patil said in the order passed on Thursday.
While the police had also invoked stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), claiming that the crime was committed with Rajan as the head of the crime syndicate, the sanction and prior approval needed for invoking the Act was not proper.
'In the present case, it was the duty of the prosecution to establish how the present accused is connected with the other accused persons and when he entered into such a conspiracy but they failed to prove the same,'the court said.
Rajan has been lodged in Tihar jail since his extradition in 2015. A special court was designated for trials in cases pending against him. While he is serving life imprisonment in the J Dey murder case, he has been acquitted in a few cases.
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