Special court to pronounce Rajan’s judgment on May 2

Order for the other 10 accused too will be the same day as Rajan

A special MCOCA court on Tuesday closed the J Dey murder case for judgment and is likely to pronounce its verdict against extradited gangster Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan and 10 other accused in the case.

Special Judge Sameer Adkar completed hearing arguments of all the parties including the prosecution and Rajan on Tuesday and reserved his judgment. The court is likely to pronounce its verdict on May 2, 2018.

On the last day of arguments, the court heard the submissions of advocates Anshuman Sinha and Hasnain Kazi, appearing for Rajan. The team argued that the prosecution has failed to prove its case pertaining to criminal conspiracy. The advocates also argued that the prosecution has relied upon the testimony of four journalists, who claimed to have spoken to Rajan over phone.

“These statements cannot be relied upon by the prosecution. Just because these four journalists claimed to have spoken to my client that does not mean they are speaking the truth. They have not specified as to what all did they discuss in their more than 20-minutes conversation over the phone,” advocate Kazi told the Free Press Journal.

“Apart from this, the prosecution has failed to prove its case of criminal conspiracy against my client. They have failed to establish my client’s nexus with other accused. And most importantly, the prime witness of the prosecution to establish criminal conspiracy against my client, has turned hostile,” Kazi added.

The trial in the case had started in 2016, after Rajan was extradited from Indonesia. Since then, the special court has examined at least 155 prosecution witnesses of which one prime witness has turned hostile.

The court has framed charges of murder along with criminal conspiracy and relevant provisions of the stringent MCOCA against Rajan and 10 other accused in the case.

The trial in the case had started in 2016, after Rajan was extradited from Indonesia. Since then, the special court has examined at least 155 prosecution witnesses of which one prime witness has turned hostile