HC allows Chhota Rajan`s wife to travel UK for aiding daughter

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday permitted Sujata Nikalje, wife of fugitive underworld don Chhota Rajan, to travel to the United Kingdom for two months to help her daughter settle at the Cardiff Business School.

Sujata had approached the high court challenging the special MCOCA court`s order rejecting her application seeking permission to travel to UK from September 20 to November 20. Sujata is an accused in a 2006 case of extortion and is being tried under the stringent provision of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). She was granted bail in September 2007 by a lower court which observed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the case against her is not made out. "Her second daughter has been admitted to the Cardiff Business School in London. Nikalje wants to travel with her to help her arrange for accommodation. Her eldest daughter and youngest daughter will be in Mumbai. Niklaje had even offered to surrender the youngest daughter`s passport as security," Sujata`s lawyer Aabad Ponda said. The prosecution opposed the petition stating there was a likelihood of Sujata absconding and not returning to India to face trial. Justice M L Tahaliyani, however, refused to accept the prosecution`s apprehension and granted permission to her to travel to UK for two months. PTI