Special CBI court acquits Chhota Rajan in 1983 case of assault on policemen

Special Judge for CBI cases AT Wankhede on Thursday acquitted gangster Chhota Rajan in an attempt to murder case where he was accused of assaulting policemen in 1983.

Mumbai: Gangster Chhota Rajan has been acquitted by a special SBI court in a 38-year-old attempt to murder case where he was accused of assaulting policemen. The judgement was pronounced by Special Judge for CBI cases AT Wankhede on Thursday.

As per the case details, way back in 1983, a team of police from Tilak Nagar police station intercepted a taxi in which the gangster and his accomplices were smuggling liquor near Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar in eastern Mumbai. Rajan attacked two policemen with a knife before he was arrested. He was charged under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which had taken over the case from Mumbai Police in 2015 had filed a closure report in the court, stating case records had gone missing and most of the witnesses were not traceable. However, the court had asked the agency to continue the probe.

Rajan, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail after his deportation from Indonesia in 2015, is facing trials in about 70 cases and undergoing life imprisonment in a murder case.