The Supreme Court on September 17, 2025, cancelled the suspension of sentence and bail granted by the Bombay High Court to gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje @ Chhota Rajan, who was serving a life term for the 2001 murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty. A Division Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta observed that Rajan had remained absconding for 27 years and already stood convicted in four criminal cases.
The case arose from the murder of Jaya Shetty, owner of the Golden Crown Hotel in South Mumbai.Despite earlier police protection, which was withdrawn two months before his killing, Shetty was shot dead by Rajan outside his office on 4 May 2001. In May 2024, a Special MCOCA 1999 (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) convicted Chhota Rajan and sentenced him to life imprisonment, imposing a total fine of ₹16,00,000 with a default simple imprisonment. All four life terms were to run concurrently and this conviction was Rajan’s second life sentence, as he had earlier been convicted for the 2011 murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.Although the defence contended that the CBI had closed the present cases multiple times due to lack of evidence, the Court emphasised that the present situation marked Rajan’s second conviction for murder and that his prolonged abscondence rendered him undeserving of bail.
The Court held that Bombay High Court had erred in suspending his sentence and granting bail and quashed the order, directing that Chhota Rajan’s life sentence in the Jaya Shetty murder case shall remain in force.