Chhota Rajan convicted as CBI court sentences him to 7 years in fake passport case; here's what the probe revealed
A special CBI court in Chennai on Thursday awarded a seven-year jail term to gangster Chhota Rajan for procuring a passport using forged documents, officials
A special CBI court in Chennai on Thursday awarded a seven-year jail term to gangster Chhota Rajan for procuring a passport using forged documents, officials said. The conviction followed a 22-year-long legal proceedings, during which the CBI established that Rajan had obtained the passport by using the identity of Vijaya Kadam and submitting fabricated documents, comprising a school transfer certificate and ration card. "The convict, Chota Rajan, is presently lodged in Tihar Jail, New Delhi, where he is already undergoing rigorous imprisonment for life," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. The agency began its probe on March 19, 2002, after registering an FIR on the allegations that the accused applied for and obtained a passport by submitting forged documents, thereby cheating the Regional Passport Office, Chennai. The investigation found that Chhota Rajan had applied for an Indian passport using the identity of Vijaya Kadam by submitting forged documents, the CBI spokesperson said, adding that the probe established that the person using the name Vijaya Kadam was actually Rajendra alias Nana alias Chhota Rajan, son of Sadashiv and a resident of Mumbai.
"The investigation revealed that the accused, Chota Rajan, applied for an Indian passport in the name of Vijaya Kadam by submitting false documents... It was also found that the real name of Vijaya Kadam was Rajendra alias Nana alias Chota Rajan, s/o Sadashiv, a resident of Mumbai," the spokesperson said. The CBI filed its chargesheet against Rajan on January 22, 2004, within two years of registering the case. Chhota Rajan acquitted in builder threat case after 20 years Chhota Rajan was acquitted by a special court in May 2025, in a case related to alleged threats issued to a builder, nearly two decades after he was booked. The court observed that the prosecution failed to establish the charges as no incriminating evidence emerged during witness examinations. Also Read | NEET UG paper leak: CBI files chargesheet against 13 accused While acquitting Rajan, special MCOCA court judge AM Patil noted that the prosecution's key witness was not certain whether the person who allegedly called and threatened the builder was actually Chhota Rajan.
The CBI, which probed the case, had alleged that real estate developer Nandkumar Harchandani received several threats in Rajan's name, demanding payment of alleged dues to certain businessmen. The prosecution claimed that Harchandani had angered Rajan over a payment dispute, following which the gangster allegedly planned to intimidate the builder. It alleged that Rajan, through his associates, had warned Harchandani to stop work at his construction site. The case was linked to a September 2004 incident in which seven unidentified people allegedly entered Harchandani's office and opened fire at his accountant, who escaped unharmed. Also Read | First photo of Chhota Rajan emerges from Tihar Jail nine years after arrest The court noted that the testimonies of the two eyewitnesses examined by the prosecution did not reveal any incriminating material against Rajan. “The most reliable witness against the present accused is Irshad Shaikh, who received Rajan’s alleged call about the threat.
The BriefWire