Who is Jigna Vora, journalist whose arrest and acquittal in murder by Chhota Rajan, inspired Hansal Mehta's Scoop?

The trailer of Netflix’s upcoming show Scoop was released on Monday afternoon. The show deals with the case of a journalist from Mumbai who was arrested in the killing of a fellow crime reporter and accused of having links with the underworld. The series is based on the real-life story of Jigna Vora and is, in part, based on her memoirs.

Who is Jigna Vora and what was the J Dey murder case?

Jigna Vora is a former journalist who worked as a crime reporter in Mumbai. In 2011, when Mid-Day’s senior reporter J Dey was shot by unknown assailants, Jigna came into focus as one of the suspects in the murder conspiracy, as per police. Jigna, who was with Asian Age at the time, was accused of conspiring with Chhota Rajan to kill Dey. The fact that she had interviewed the underworld don a few weeks prior went against her.

The police alleged that she had given Rajan the details of Dey’s whereabouts based on which he sent his trigger men to kill the journalist. Jigna was arrested and spent six years in prison as the trial continued. In 2017, she was acquitted of all charges. After her release from prison, she wrote her memoirs Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison, which forms the basis of the web series Scoop.

What is Scoop about?

Created and directed by Hansal Mehta, Scoop is a semi-fictionalised account of the murder of Dey and Jigna’s arrest. The show’s trailer shows that the names of most of the characters and the publications they work for have been changed (but Chhota Rajan’s name is used as is). The show sees Karishma Tanna play journalist Jagruti Pathak, who is accused of helping Rajan kill her colleague and rival Jaideb Sen.

Scoop also stars Prosenjit Chatterjee, Harman Baweja, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub in pivotal roles.