Amritsar:

A gangster was shot dead on Wednesday while trying to escape police custody when he and a few other accused in a murder case were taken to a place here to make some recoveries, officials said.

Gangsters Gursharan and Paras, and another person were taken to a place in this district to make some recoveries when the two gangsters picked up guns they had previously hidden in the bushes and fired at the Amritsar Rural police personnel in their attempt to flee, police said.

The police personnel fired in self-defence, killing Gursharan while Paras managed to jump into a river and escape, they said. A hunt is on to nab him, a police official said.

In a statement, Deputy Inspector General of Police Satinder Singh said the gangsters were brought to the spot where they had concealed the weapons according to their disclosure statement to police.

However, the two gangsters suddenly pushed the police officials and ran. They fired upon the police party after getting possession of their weapons that they hid behind the bushes, he said.

The DIG said the accused were held in various criminal cases, including that of murder. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to underworld gangster Chhota Rajan, who was convicted earlier this year in connection with the murder of a hotelier in Mumbai in 2001. The court has suspended his life sentence.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan directed the gangster to furnish a bond of Rs one lakh for the bail, reported news agency PTI.

Despite the bail, Rajan will continue to remain in jail as he is also serving a life sentence for the 2011 murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, and other criminal cases.

On May 30 this year, a special court convicted Rajan and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of Jaya Shetty – who owned the Golden Crown Hotel at Gamdevi in Mumbai. On the night of May 4, 2001, two of Rajan’s shooters allegedly barged into the hotel premises and killed Shetty on the upper floor of the joint. A probe into the case had revealed that the victim had complained of getting extortion threats and calls from Rajan’s associates and was killed because he failed to pay the money.

Rajan, 64, is one of the dreaded mafia syndicate bosses in Mumbai. He was first arrested in 1979 for assaulting police constables. After he was released from jail, the gangster joined the Bada Rajan gang and then sought refuge under Dawood Ibrahim. In 1989, Rajan sneaked off to Dubai and Indonesia – where he spent nearly 27 years as a fugitive on the run. He was deported to India in November 2015.

The underworld gangster is wanted in several criminal cases, including murder, extortion, smuggling, and drug trafficking.

New Delhi:
Security has been tightened in several Uttar Pradesh towns after gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari died of a cardiac arrest. His family though allege that the gangster, who has been in jail since 2005, was poisoned.

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