A special court is likely to pronounce the verdict in journalist J. Dey's murder case today. Among the accused in the case are former underworld don Chhota Rajan and journalist Jigna Vora.
Jyotirmoy Dey (56) was a crime and investigations editor for Mid-day when he was gunned down on June 11, 2011 in Powai in a contract killing, allegedly on the instructions of gangster Chhota Rajan, now lodged in Tihar Central Jail. Dey had nine exit wounds on his body and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Rajan was deported from Indonesia in 2015 after he was captured while travelling with a fake passport. He is awaiting trial in almost 70 cases.
The Crime Branch had arrested seven persons who were history-sheeters allegedly from the Chhota Rajan gang within 16 days of investigations. According to the Police, Sathish Kalia was the man who shot Dey. The shooters were allegedly kept in the dark about Dey's profession.
The then Deputy Bureau Chief of The Asian Age, Jigna Vora was chargesheeted by the Crime Branch under stringent Sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), as well as for criminal conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence. Police claimed that Vora's professional rivalry with Dey was the reason for the murder. She was later granted bail on the grounds that she was a single mother, had a child to look after, and that she had no previous criminal record.
Dey had authored two books on Mumbai's underworld and was writing his third book, to be titled ‘Chindi: Rags to Riches', where he was portraying 20 gangsters, including Rajan, who rose from humble backgrounds to become underworld dons. This portrayal is said to have irked Rajan.
155 witnesses were examined during the trial, final arguments of which concluded early last month.