J Dey murder: Chhota Rajan found guilty, scribe Jigna Vora acquitted
02 May 2018
Seven years after journalist Jyotirmoy Dey was shot dead, allegedly by gangsters linked to Mumbai’s real estate mafia, a special court today found gangster Chhota Rajan guilty of the crime.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai today convicted gangster Chhota Rajan and eight others for killing veteran journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.
Of the 14 accused, Vinod Asrani had died while two were absconding. The other accused were Chhota Rajan, Satish Kaliya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Paulson Joseph, Deepak Sisodia and journalist Jigna Vora.
The court found scribe Jigna Vora not guilty of the 2011 murder of the veteran crime journalist. Another accused, Paulsen Joseph was also acquitted.
J Dey, 56 at the time, was shot dead in suburban Powai on 11 June 2011 while he was on his way home.
Journalist Vora was suspected of having passed on Dey's information to the gangster due to some personal rivalry. Police has filed separate charges against Vora for allegedly instigating Rajan against Dey. Rajan who was extradited to India in December 2015, is currently lodged in the Tihar Central Jail, New Delhi.
Trial in the J Dey murder case restarted after Rajan's extradition when the CBI took over the case and a supplementary chargesheet was filed in 2016. The CBI said Dey was writing two books that not only showed Rajan in poor light, but also put arch rival Dawood Ibrahim on a higher pedestal.
In supplementary charges files with the special court, the CBI quoted Rajan as telling a journalist after the murder, “J Dey was writing many articles against me in newspapers. Hence I contacted him and enquired politely whether he has any personal enmity with me. He declined but continued writing against me, like my gang has become weak and that I am sick, my loyal people have left me, etc. All such write-ups of J Dey angered me. Hence I developed an impression that he had started working for the Dawood gang. I tried to convince him before killing him. But he did not listen. I am not sure whether he was really close to Dawood gang. but his writings made me feel like that.”
Altogether 155 witnesses deposed in the case, of which seven were declared hostile. Key witnesses were journalists to whom Rajan spoke after the murder.