Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Thursday convicted gangster Chhota Rajan in the murder case of hotelier Jaya Shetty in 2001 and sentenced him to life imprisonment, media reported.

The verdict was delivered by Special Judge AM Patil, who presides over cases under the Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Jaya Shetty, the proprietor of the Golden Crown hotel in central Mumbai's Gamdevi area, had been receiving extortion calls from Chhota Rajan's gang.

He was shot dead inside his hotel by two members of the gang on May 4, 2001.

Despite receiving threats, Jaya Shetty's security cover provided by the Maharashtra police was withdrawn two months before the murder.

Chhota Rajan has been incarcerated in Delhi's Tihar Jail since his deportation to India following his arrest in Indonesia in October 2015.

As per reports from TOI, two assailants were responsible for the fatal shooting of Jaya Shetty.

Following the incident, the hotel manager and an employee chased and managed to nab one of the shooters.

Chhota Rajan alias Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje gained attention last year for challenging filmmaker Hansal Mehta and the owners of Matchbox Shots LLP, the producers of the web series 'Scoop' in Bombay High Court.

Rajan filed a suit, alleging unauthorized use of his image and voice in the series.

He became aware of this when his wife saw the series trailer and brought it to his attention.

Rajan argued that this amounted to a breach of his rights since the filmmaker had not sought his permission.

He sought a permanent injunction from the court to prevent the producers from releasing the series.

The Netflix series traced the events involving journalist Jigna Vora, who was accused of murdering a fellow journalist Jyotirmoy Dey (J Dey).

The Maharashtra MCOCA court found Chhota Rajan aka Abhay guilty of the murder of journalist J. Dey on 2 May 2018 and handed him life imprisonment.