A special CBI court in Pune on Friday acquitted gangster Chhota Rajan and four others in a case related to an attempt on the life of Shiv Sena leader Ajay Bhosale in 2009.
Assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on Bhosale in the Koregaon area of Pune on October 11, 2009, while he was campaigning for an election. Bhosale escaped unhurt, but a bullet hit the driver of his Scorpio.
Special Judge Narendranath Pradhan acquitted Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, businessman Surendra Agarwal, Shakib Aalam Khan, Rajesh Yadav and Vijay Purshottam Salvi.
According to the prosecution, the attack was linked to a property dispute between Surendra and his brothers, R K Agrawal and V K Agrawal. Police alleged that Surendra, with the help of an aide of Rajan, was trying to persuade R K Agrawal to hand over a desired share of the family property. Bhosale was R K Agrawal’s friend.
The case was initially investigated by Pune’s Bund Garden police station. After Rajan’s deportation to India in 2015, the case was among 71 cases against him transferred to the CBI on the Maharashtra government’s orders.
Rajan is currently lodged in Tihar jail and is serving a life sentence for the murder of Mumbai journalist J Dey. He has also been convicted in several other cases.
(With inputs from PTI)