Gangster Shola Rajan received a significant boost as the Bombay High Court granted him bail in the 2001 murder case of hotelier Jaya Shetty. The court set his bail at ₹1 lakh.
A special Mokka court had previously convicted Rajan and sentenced him to life imprisonment on May 30 this year for the murder of Jaya Shetty. However, the Bombay High Court has now overturned that sentence.
Justices Revati Moite Dere and Prithviraj Chauhan ordered Rajan’s release upon posting a bail bond of ₹1 lakh. Despite securing bail, authorities will keep Rajan in jail due to several ongoing criminal cases against him.
Law enforcement has filed numerous criminal cases against Rajan, including tax evasion. Additionally, he faces charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in connection with the murder case. In this case, three other accused individuals faced charges in two separate cases, while one person received acquittal due to insufficient evidence.
On May 4, 2001, two members of Rajan’s gang shot and killed Jaya Shetty, the owner of the Golden Crown Hotel in Gramdevi, Mumbai.
While living abroad, Shola Rajan operated his gang in India. Authorities arrested him in Indonesia in 2015 and extradited him to India in October of that year. Since then, law enforcement has incarcerated him in Tihar Jail in New Delhi, where he serves a life sentence for the 2011 murder of journalist J Dey.
After the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Rajan distanced himself from the David Ibrahim gang, with which he had previously been affiliated.