Mumbai: In what can spell trouble for Sujata Nikhalje, the wife of gangster Chhota Rajan alias Rajendra Nikhalje, the Crime Branch on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that it had ‘sufficient’ material to prosecute her under the provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA). The court was further informed that Sujata was a ‘recruiter’ for the Rajan gang. A bench of Justices Indrajit Mahanty and Anant Badar is seized with the criminal appeal filed by Sujata challenging the order of the trial court, which had refused to discharge her. Sujata alias ‘Nani’ was arrested in December 2005 in connection with an extortion case. She and her brother-in-law were accused of threatening and extorting money from a city-based developer. Since then, she has been in jail and a special court had, in 2014, framed charges against all the accused.
As far as Sujata is concerned, the special court had allowed her prosecution for abetting a crime syndicate and for holding a property purchased from the proceeds of crime. The court, however, dropped the charges of being an active member of the syndicate and also of committing organised crime. The bench led by Justice Mahanty is dealing with two petitions – one filed by Sujata challenging the framed charges and the other of the Crime Branch, which has sought restoring of both the dropped charges. Arguing on behalf of the Crime Branch, special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat told the judges, the prosecution has enough material to prove her involvement in extortion cases.
In order to establish her guilt, Gharat read out the statements of some witnesses who had stated that Sujata was active in collecting extortion money. He also read out statements of certain persons who were threatened by Sujata and her accomplices. “There is a statement by a person who wanted to join the gang, who has stated he was made to meet Sujata. She was keen on meeting him, to ensure he was not a police informant,” Gharat pointed out. “The statements reveal how Sujata ensured that only genuine persons are allowed to join the gang. In a way, she held control of the gang led by her then fugitive husband Rajan,” Gharat added.
The public prosecutor further told the judges that there was prima facie case against Sujata’s involvement in all the extortion cases. “There are statements which state that Sujata herself used to be present and also threatened people for money. She also took an active part in negotiating the amounts demanded. Thus, she must be charged with committing an organised crime,” Gharat argued. “Participation in an illegal activity itself is necessary to note the guilt irrespective of whether she knew the intention of the object. She made recruitments to the crime syndicate and participated in extortion activities, which have been going on from last 10 years,” Gharat argued further. The bench would continue hearing the arguments of noted advocate Harshad Ponda, who would make submissions on behalf of Sujata.
