Charges framed against Chhota Rajan, daily trial from July 11

A court here on Wednesday framed charges against underworld don Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan and others in a fake passport case.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Vinod Kumar said the trial will be held on a day-to-day basis and fixed July 11 to start recording the statements of prosecution witnesses.

The court framed charges against Chhota Rajan and the then passport officers Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with criminal conspiracy, cheating, cheating by impersonation and forgery of documents.

All the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, alleged that Chhota Rajan got issued a fake passport from Bengaluru in 1998-99 in connivance with Rahate, Shah and Lakshmanan in the name of one Mohan Kumar.

The three are out on bail while Rajan is in judicial custody.

Rajan was allegedly involved in over 85 cases, ranging from murder to extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking. He has cases pending against him in Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and with the CBI.

The don, held by the Indonesian police on October 25, 2015, was deported to India on November 6, 2015.

--IANS

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