A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court discharged former underworld gangster Chhota Rajan on Friday. He was in jail since 2002 for an extortion case of a garment businessman Virendra Jain.
A complaint was filed by Virendra Jain who said that some unidentified persons had demanded ₹25 lakhs from him and threatened him using Chhota Rajan’s name. The case was transferred to CBI in 2018 when Rajan was deported back to India from Bali Indonesia.
The CBI had filed closure reports in more than 70 cases against Rajan after they could not find sufficient evidence to make him stand trial. The special court also accepted the closure reports and said that many of the cases were old and witnesses were not traceable.
Chhota Rajan’s counsel Tushar Khandhare cited lack of evidence against Rajan to frame charges and carry trial.
“Pandey and Prince were already discharged in the case before Rajan’s deportation. Rajan has no direct role in the case. He had neither threatened the complainant nor called him. Only his name was used by the accused. However they too were discharged in the matter. The CBI had even not filed a fresh charge-sheet in the case and had relied only on the Mumbai Police’s charge sheet.”