No reason to question Dey's integrity: Roy

Crime Branch officials probing J Dey's murder dismiss rumours that he met underworld agents in England to expose their rival Chhota Rajan's location for a price

Debunking groundless theories that crime journalist J Dey was involved in passing information to underworld elements, the Mumbai police categorically said yesterday that there is no reason to question his moral rectitude or professional conduct.



Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy, who is handling the investigation in Dey's murder, said, "Nothing has come up in our investigation that would question his integrity."

But this paper finds it disturbing that certain fabricated factoids maligning his image are being floated in the public sphere as information, without any substantiation or proof.u00a0

Since the probe began, a number of theories inculpating the oil mafia, sandalwood smugglers, a railway police official, and so on all unverified were relayed to media outlets from within and outside the police force.

Then, no sooner had the police arrested the seven accused than it was propagated sans any corroboration that Dey had passed information to Dawood Ibrahim's gang about the whereabouts of his arch-rival Chhota Rajan, so Rajan ordered him dead.

When MiD DAY inquired of the police, they firmly said, "This is a false story. There has been nothing as such that has come up in the investigation about Dey supplying information to a rival gang."

Also, cops have not established that Dey met a Dawood aide on his England tour in the week before his slaughter, as has been propounded in certain news reports.

The matter is still under investigation. But a section of the police, clearly not in the know, had already given this idle gossip to the media as fact, who have printed that Dey may have met Iqbal Mirchi, Dawood's collaborator, in England.

Again, to labour the point, police probe has not found anything to this effect.

Besides, even if Dey did meet someone, it does not imply that he was a conduit for passing on secrets.

As anyone with any insight into crime journalism knows, it was part of his job to communicate with gangsters on a regular basis. A reporter's contact with questionable elements is routine.

Faux news
Roy concurred with the view that Dey had no truck with gangsters beyond the ends of journalistic fact-finding and reportage. "I agree these theories are false," he said.

"Since the beginning of this investigation, none of the evidence has implied that he had questionable connections.

Speaking with a gangster is part of a media professional's job, there is nothing personal. We are trying to find out where these unverified claims are coming from," roy said.

After the day Dey was gunned down on a bustling Powai street on a rainy Saturday, Roy and Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik have maintained that his death has been a huge loss.

Said a source, "He was a clean guy. Not at any point did investigations show that he had taken money from or owed allegiance to gangsters."