After holding him guilty of the murder of city-based hotelier Jaya Shetty way back in 2001, a Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Thursday handed out life sentence to deported underworld don Chhota Rajan alias Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje in the case. After convicting him for the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty, Special MCOCA Judge AM Patil awarded life sentence to Rajan for being part of the conspiracy to kill Jaya Shetty, who owned four restaurants in Mumbai, including the Golden Crown in Grant Road in south Mumbai. Earlier, three of the co-accused in the case — Ajay Mohite, Pramod Dhonde, and Rahul Pansare — had been convicted earlier by the Special court for their involvement in the murder of Shetty.
On 4 May 2001, Shetty was gunned down by two unidentified assailants.
