J Dey murder case: Jigna Vora moves court for bail

Mumbai: Woman journalist Jigna Vora, arrested in connection with the murder of senior crime reporter J Dey, has moved a special MCOCA court seeking bail. Vora was arrested on 25 November last year under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on charges of providing key information, like supplying licence plate number of the motorcycle and address of the slain journalist to underworld fugitive Chhota Rajan. In the application, Vora has claimed that there was not a single outgoing call made by her to Rajan and it would therefore be wrong to state that she had instigated Rajan against Dey by speaking ill about him. [caption id=“attachment_270634” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PTI”]  [/caption] “A perusal of the print-outs would show that all the calls have been made by Rajan to her,” Vora said in the application. Though some of the journalists say that Rajan had informed them that Vora had instigated him against Dey, none of the journalists have produced any record of the calls made to them by Rajan, she said. “There is no recorded interview of Rajan with these witnesses (journalists), wherein he (Rajan) has implicated Vora, nor there is any record to corroborate their statement that they had an occasion to speak to Rajan,” the application said. Vora further said that a call made to a friend of the accused Vinod Chembur is the only intercepted one on record. “Though this witness alleges that Rajan informed him that Vora had instigated him against Dey and provided him the details, the same is not found in the said intercepted communication,” contended the bail application. “The murder of Dey was on account of suspicion in the mind of an organised crime syndicate. Murder of Dey was therefore not for any pecuniary gain, economic or other advantage and hence it is not an offence committed by the organised crime syndicate,” said the application. For the application of MCOCA, pecuniary gains has to be the motive behind the crime. On 3 December last year, police had filed a charge sheet against arrested accused — Rohee Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia. Police have alleged Rajan was upset with two articles written by Dey, which portrayed him in bad light and hence by murdering the journalist, he wanted to send a message to the media that those who write against him would be targeted. According to the the 3,055-page charge sheet, Vora, who was the Deputy Chief of Bureau of Asian Age, had instigated the overseas-based underworld to kill Dey due to professional rivalry. A supplementary charge sheet was filed at a later date against Vora, the eleventh arrested accused in the case. J Dey, working with city-based tabloid Mid Day, was shot dead in suburban Powai on 11 June last year. PTI