A special CBI court here on Thursday acquitted gangster Chhota Rajan in a 38-year-old attempt to murder case where he was accused of assaulting two policemen.
Rajan, charged under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) was acquitted by special judge for CBI cases A T Wankhede.
An official associated with the case said most of the witnesses were not traceable, and even the case records had gone missing.
The Central Bureau of Investigation which had taken over the case from Mumbai Police had filed a closure report in the court, stating it can not pursue it as case papers and witnesses were missing.
The court, however, had asked the central agency to continue the probe.
As per the case details, way back in 1983, police intercepted a taxi in which Rajan and his accomplices were smuggling liquor in suburban Ghatkopar here. Two policemen tried to catch hold of him in the moving taxi and Rajan attacked them with a knife before being arrested, as per the police.
Rajan is lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi after his deportation from Indonesia in October 2015. He is facing trials in about 70 cases and undergoing life imprisonment for the murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in 2011.
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(Published 28 October 2021, 15:25 IST)
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