The Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai today (2nd May 2018) found gangster Chhota Rajan guilty while acquitting scribe Jigna Vora and Paulsen Joseph in the murder case of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey. The Shooters Satish Kaliya, Anil Waghmode, Arun Fake and Mangesh Agavane also got convicted.
Mr. J Dey was a veteran crime journalist, 56 at the time, was shot dead in Suburban Powai on June 11, 2011, while he was on his way home.
The CBI took over the case, and a supplementary charge sheet 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. The prosecution has examined 155 witnesses in the case, of which around ten are reported to have turned hostile, and out of 14 accused in the case, Vinod Asrani has died, and two are absconding.
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch filed its charge sheet in the case on December 3, 2011, named Satish Kaliya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia (all arrested) as accused. On August 5, 2016, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a supplementary charge sheet, which claimed Rajan had told the journalist that he suspected Dey was working for the D-gang, run by global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.
On May 30, 2011, Dey wrote an article titled ‘Did Rajan plan hit on Kaskar?’ in which he claimed: "sources believe the ageing gangster may have plotted the shooting as a desperate attempt to seize a lion’s share of the underworld pie.” On June 2, 2011, his article titled ‘Rajan gangsters off to ‘pilgrimages’' claimed that according to the police, Rajan gang members are missing from their hideouts.
According to the CBI supplementary charge sheet, Rajan had allegedly told a journalist after the murder, “J. Dey was writing many articles against me in newspapers. So I contacted him and asked politely whether he has any personal grudges 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. I am not sure whether he was close to Dawood gang. But his writings made me feel like that.”
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