J Dey Murder: Was Jigna Vora persecuted by her own?

What did the Mumbai Police do when MiD-DAY journalist J Dey’s murder threatened to dent its reputation? It scurried and launched a prompt smear campaign, first against Dey and then against prime suspect, Asian Age Deputy Bureau Chief Jigna Vora, who was charged in the murder on 21 February, three months after her arrest. All, so that the focus could be taken off it. This narrative, led by underworld don Chhota Rajan and accepted by Mumbai cops, was whole-heartedly echoed by the journalist fraternity that has splashed its pages with outrage and took out protest marches following the murder. All of it based on flimsy charges that were either backtracked or skipped in in the final charge sheet, a Tehelka exclusive reports.

Not only are there dead ends in the police investigations, according to the Tehelka report, but a worrying absence of accountability, as the police allegedly played into the hands of Chhota Rajan and persecuted both journalists Rajan had a problem with. Rajan said Vora ‘instigated’ him to kill Dey. And the crime reporters contended with what the cops served them.

Take for instance the main circumstantial evidence that Vora made 36 phone calls to Rajan, later to bring the number down to three after Vora’s editor clarified the calls were made in the presence of other people and pertained to an interview that the paper duly ran.

Then the police claimed that Vora had sent emails to Rajan with Dey’s photo and residential address, but made no mention of it in its final charge sheet, a copy of which is in Tehelka’s possession_._

Once she was painted as a single mother,  a woman in the man’s world of crime reporting, the media ran stories raising questions about her character and even-linked her romantically with Dey. It even played up the police’s angle of a professional rivalry based on the untenable ground that they had written contradictory reports at one point.

The Tehelka report unearths many more pieces that just don’t fit in a story that has been given a quiet burial. And yet, not once in the entire investigation run did one read about Vora’s side because the media verdict was an overwhelming ‘Guilty’.

Read the entire Tehelka report here.