Chhota Rajan held guilty in fake passport case

New Delhi, April 24: A court here on Monday convicted underworld don Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan and others in a fake passport case.

Besides Chhota Rajan, four other accused convicted in the case are -- then passport officers Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal held Rajan guilty of possessing a fake passport.

Till date, it is the first case in which Chhota Rajan, who is facing around 70 cases, has been held guilty.

The court on June 8, 2016, framed charges against Chhota Rajan and Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with criminal conspiracy, cheating, cheating by impersonation and forgery of documents.

The CBI in its chargesheet alleged that Chhota Rajan got issued a fake passport from Bengaluru in 1998-99 in connivance with Rahate, Shah and Lakshmanan in the name of Mohan Kumar.

The court has directed the three accused to be taken into judicial custody till April 25.

The court will also hear argument on quantum of sentence on Tuesday.

Rajan is involved in over 85 cases, ranging from murder to extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking.

He has over 70 cases pending against him in Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, apart from those filed by the CBI.

The don, held by the Indonesian police on October 25, 2015, was deported to India on November 6, 2015.