Gangster Rajan acquitted in driver murder case of ’11

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Monday acquitted deported gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, alias Chhota Rajan (68), in the 2011 murder case of Arif Bael, the driver and guard of Dawood Ibrahim's brother, Iqbal Kaskar. A detailed judgment copy is to be made available. The murder case was among 71 transferred to CBI after he was deported from Bali in 2015.
In a separate trial in 2015, the court convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment three accused — Bilal Mustafa Sayyed, Indra Khatri, and Abdul Rashad Shaikh — for the murder, while four others were acquitted — Rajan's henchmen D K Rao, Umaid Ur Rahman, Rahman's stepfather Asif Jaan, and Sayyid Adnan. The court dropped MCOCA charges, stating that there was no evidence to prove the gang's involvement. The crime branch claimed the attack on Bael was the fallout of a gang war between Rajan and Dawood's men.
Rajan, accused of being the head of the syndicate that orchestrated the crime and ordering the hit, is serving a life sentence for the 2011 murder of journalist J Dey. Rajan was produced via videoconferencing from Tihar jail, where he has been lodged for security reasons.
It was the prosecution's case that on May 17, 2011, the victim was on Pakmodia Street when a person, who later became informant in the case, saw Khatri and Bilal fire at the victim.