Gangster Chhota Rajan, 5 others get 8-yr imprisonment in attempting to kill B R Shetty
Mumbai, Aug 20: A Mumbai court on Tuesday awarded eight years' rigorous imprisonment to gangster Chhota Rajan and five others for attempting to kill a city-based hotelier in 2012.
Special court judge A T Wankhede convicted the six under various sections of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and the Indian Penal Code Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy).
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on each of them.
In May last year, the same court awarded life imprisonment to Rajan for the murder of Mumbai-based journalist J Dey.
Rajan is lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi after his deportation to India from Indonesia in October 2015.
Besides Rajan, the five others awarded the punishment are Nityanand Nayak, Selvin Daniel, Rohit Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalia, Dilip Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh.
Hotelier B R Shetty was shot at in suburban Andheri by two motorcycle-borne shooters linked to Rajan in October 2012, when he was going to meet a friend.
Mumbai Police's anti-extortion cell, which probed the case, alleged that Rajan ordered his sharp-shooter Kalia to eliminate Shetty.
Kalia, who was in judicial custody for his involvement in J Dey's killing, asked his aide Gurudeep Singh, who is wanted in the case, to approach Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh to carry out the killing.
Nayak and Daniel then conducted a recce and helped the shooters identify Shetty, according to police.
On October 3, 2012, Upadhyay and Talvinder Singh followed Shetty on a motorcycle from the time he left his office. When the businessman reached near a jewellery showroom in Andheri, Upadhyay shot him.
Shetty received injury in his right arm, but survived.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 49 witnesses.
While convicting the six men, the court relied on the confessional statements of four of the accused as well as the deposition of Shetty.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
