Charge sheet against 12, but Jigna Vora not named

More than five months after senior crime reporter J Dey was gunned down near his residence at Powai, the police on Saturday filed a charge sheet in a special court against 12 persons, including underworld don Chhota Rajan.

The charge sheet, filed at the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, runs into 3,055 pages. It does not mention journalist Jigna Vora who was arrested on November 25. Public prosecutor Dileep Shah told the court that the investigation is still on following her arrest and they would file a supplementary chargesheet against her later.

Investigating officer Ashok Durafe told the court that Vora’s role was still being probed. “We need more time to file a charge sheet against her. A separate supplementary charge sheet, elaborating Vora’s role in the crime, will be filed later,” said Durafe.

Dey, who was employed with the Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day, was shot dead in suburban Powai on 11 June by motorcycle-borne assailants.

They allegedly murdered the senior journalist at the behest of Rajan, who gave Rs5 lakh to the accused for the murder contract, police said.

Named in the charge sheet are 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.

It also names Rajan and Nayan Singh Bist as absconding accused.

They accused have been charged with conspiracy, murder, destruction of evidence, and possessing illegal arms. Shah said that they have statements of 176 witnesses. The chargesheet contains the statement of certain journalists as well. In the course of their investigations, the police recovered a US-made revolver, 20 live rounds, along with five empty cartridges, Rs20,000 in cash, and the three bikes and the Qualis vehicle used in the perpetration of the crime.

The bulky document describes in detail the role played by each of the accused. Initially, the arrests were made under the Indian Penal Code, Bombay Police Act, and Arms Act. Later, on September 8, the stringent MCOCA was invoked.

According to the police, Rajan had apparently ordered Dey’s killing as the latter had written articles against him. Vora allegedly provoked Rajan to act against Dey out of professional rivalry. The police claim that she even provided Dey’s residential address and the licence plate number of Dey’s motorbike to Rajan.