Mumbai, May 2: After a long wait of seven years, the verdict of the veteran crime reporter of Mid-Day, Jyotirmoy Dey alias J Dey Murder case was pronounced on Wednesday. The special court of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in Mumbai in its verdict announced that Chotta Rajan and nine others have been convicted, while Journalist Jigna Vora was let off. The quantum of punishment is likely to be announced later in the day today.
In the case, 11 people have been made accused, out of which one named Vinod Chembur, died in the year 2015 due to a natural cause. Therefore, the verdict was announced for remaining ten accused which also included Journalist Jigna Vora and fugitive gangster Chotta Rajan, deported earlier from Bali by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Let us know what is the sensational murder case of J Dey is all about:
J Dey, one of the well-known investigative crime reporter of Mumbai, who penned several stories about D- gang was shot dead on 11 June 2011 near his Powai residence in central suburban Mumbai. According to the investigations held, Gangster Chhota Rajan was the mastermind behind the killing of J Dey. The reason for his murder was J Dey was writing a book named Chindi (petty) portraying the life of Don Rajan, which apparently irked him. Also, he was feared that J Dey might share his details with Chotta Shakeel.
It was believed that Journalist Vora helped Rajan to disclosed about J Dey's whereabouts, and on her intimation, the murder plot was planned. Also, Calls Detail Record (CDR) was produced to the court to prove the claim, however, the court dismissed the claims due to no evidence to prove the same.
Public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat during the hearing stated that Vora provoked don Rajan to eliminate J Dey, however, the claims had been withheld by the court.
To recall, in the case, three accused had got recorded their confessional statements pertaining to their roles in the crime, and a total of 155 witnesses were examined during the trial. As per the arguments carried out in the special MCOCA court, Rs five lakh was paid for the killing, out of which Rs two lakh was already been paid in advance to the contract killers.
The mafia don Chotta Rajan was deported earlier from Indonesia's Bali in November 2015 and subsequently made an accused in the case. All the confrontation between Rajan and Public Prosecutor during the hearing was carried out through video conferring. During the verdict pronouncement day also Rajan was not brought to Mumbai. CBI took the case from Mumbai Crime Branch after Chotta Rajan was extradited and made the prime accused in the case, in the supplementary charge sheet filed.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2018 12:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).