Underworld don Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Services (AIIMS) in New Delhi, Tihar jail authorities told a sessions court in Mumbai on Monday, reported NDTV.
Rajan, 61, is held in New Delhi’s high-security Tihar jail since his detention in 2015 after his deportation from Bali, Indonesia. All of his criminal cases in Mumbai were transferred to the CBI, and a special court was formed to hear them.
As per the reports, an assistant jailor from Tihar jail notified the sessions court on Monday that they would be unable to present Rajan via video conference before the judge for a case hearing because the gangster had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been admitted to the AIIMS.
Rajan is facing as many as 70 criminal cases pertaining to extortion and murder in Mumbai.
In the 2011 murder case of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, Rajan was convicted and sentenced to life in jail in 2018.
Rajan and his aide were acquitted last week by a special CBI court in Mumbai in connection with the murder of Hanif Kadawala, a suspect in the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings case.
