Bombay HC grants gangster Chota Rajan bail in hotelier's murder case, suspends life sentence

The Bombay High Court granted gangster Chota Rajan bail, dismissing his life sentence in the 2001 murder case of the hotelier Jay Shetty.

A two-judge bench led by Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan announced the decision while asking Rajan to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1,00,000. 

Even though Rajan has been granted bail, he will still be in jail due to his involvement in other criminal cases.

The court's decision follows a May 2024 ruling when a special court had convicted him in Shetty's murder case and gave him a life sentence.

Rajan had then appealed to the High Court to challenge his conviction. He requested that his sentence be temporarily suspended and that he be granted bail while the appeal is considered.

On May 4, 2001, Jaya Shetty, the owner of the Golden Crown hotel in central Mumbai, was murdered by two alleged members of Rajan's gang on the hotel's first floor. Investigations revealed that Shetty had received extortion demands from Hemant Pujari, a gang member, and was killed for not paying the extortion money.

Rajan is already serving a life sentence for the murder of crime reporter J Dey and is currently imprisoned in Tihar jail in Delhi.