Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On July 28th, a special CBI court acquitted gangster Chhota Rajan in the 1997 murder case of trade union leader Datta Samant for want of evidence. The court explained that there was nothing on record to prove that Rajan alias Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje schemed the conspiracy. However, Rajan, who is currently in Tihar jail, is not likely to be released soon as he is facing trials in other cases in different cities.
Datta Samant, the organiser of the 1981 textile mill workers’ strike in Mumbai, was shot dead on January 16, 1997. He was travelling in his Jeep to his office in Pant Nagar in Ghatkopar. The murderers fired 17 rounds and he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The police declared that the murder was the after-effect of a rivalry among trade unions at the factory of Premium Automobiles Limited. Chhota Rajan was named as an accused by the police. He was arrested in October 2015 from Bali in Indonesia. Later, the CBI took over all the cases registered against him.
The prosecution alleged that Rajan was behind the murder conspiracy. However, Special Judge B D Shelke observed that “The material witnesses have turned hostile. They do not support the case of the prosecution. The testimony of other witnesses is not sufficient to prove the charges against the accused.”