2 members of Chhota Rajan gang acquitted in 2005 cable operator murder case

The special court hearing the cases against jailed gangster Chhota Rajan has acquitted two alleged members of his gang in the March 2005 murder of cable operator Sanjay Gupta of Nerul, New Mumbai. The case against Rajan himself is pending in the court. The closure report filed by the CBI, which took over the case, was rejected.

The acquitted Rajan gang members are Jayant Mulay, 65, and Santosh Bhosale, 43, of Chembur. The court said there was no medical evidence that Gupta's death was a homicide.

According to the prosecution's case, on the afternoon of 21 March 2005, three assailants entered Gupta's shop and shot him. He later died due to gunshot wound. His brother and wife claimed that Pradeep Madgaonkar alias Bandya Mama ran a cable services organization Abhay Vision.

The family claimed that Madgaonkar was trying to take over Gupta's cable connections and was angry that Gupta had formed a group of cable operators against Rajan and his associates. To gain dominance in the area in Madgaon, Rajan and his organized crime syndicate allegedly got Gupta murdered.

The prosecution had examined nine witnesses, but none, except Gupta's brother, supported the prosecution's case. The brother testified that a few days before the firing, the accused had visited Gupta's office and said that Rajan was very angry with him and had asked him to apologize. He claimed that the matter was resolved about a week after Gupta received Rajan's call.

However, the court said that the brother's testimony was not enough to prove the case. Further, it was brought on record that after investigation, the police's bid to invoke the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act was rejected.