No proof of Santosh Shetty's role in Chhota Rajan aide's murder

Dreaded gangster Santosh Shetty, who was nabbed by the Mumbai crime branch earlier this month, is not an accused in the murder of Chhota Rajan aide Farid Tanasha.

A senior crime branch officer had said that there was a strong suspicion that Shetty was involved in Tanasha’s murder as he suspected Tanasha of passing wrong information about him to Rajan. The relationship between Rajan and Shetty had soured.   

“There is no evidence which would point at Shetty’s involvement in Tanasha’s killing; that’s why he has not been named in the charge sheet.”

Tanasha was shot dead at his residence in Tilak Nagar in June last year. After his killing, the crime branch probe revealed that a Thane-based builder, Yashwant Bhakre, had paid supari of Rs9 lakh to Bharat Nepali to bump off Tanasha. The two were embroiled in a dispute over the development of a SRA project.  

The crime branch in their charge sheet filed in the case named 11 people as accused; nine of them have already been arrested. Bharat Nepali and Vijay Shetty have been shown as absconding.

The arrests helped the police recover five weapons with live rounds of ammunition, eight mobiles, 12 SIM cards and a motorcycle that was used to execute the crime. The police had filed a 4,000-page charge sheet in the Tanasha murder case.