Mumbai hotelier's murder in 2001: HC suspends Chhota Rajan's life sentence, grants him bail
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Wednesday suspended the life sentence of gangster Chhota Rajan in connection with the murder of hotelier Jaya Shetty here in 2001 and granted him bail in the case.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan directed Rajan to furnish a bond of Rs one lakh for the bail.
Rajan will, however, continue to remain in jail in connection with other criminal cases.
In May this year, a special court convicted Rajan in the hotelier's murder case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Rajan filed an appeal in the HC against the conviction. He sought that the sentence be suspended and he be granted bail in the interim.
Jaya Shetty, who owned the Golden Crown hotel at Gamdevi in central Mumbai, was shot dead by two alleged members of Rajan's gang on the hotel's first floor on May 4, 2001.
A probe suggested that Shetty had received extortion calls from Hemant Pujari, a member of the Chhota Rajan gang, and was killed because of his failure to pay the money.
Rajan, already serving a life term for the murder of veteran crime reporter J Dey, is currently lodged at the Tihar jail in Delhi.
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Dhyan Chand lifetime award to be replaced by Arjuna lifetime
New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.
Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.
In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.
"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.
"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.
"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.
The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.
