12 persons named, journalist Vora to get a separate supplementary document
12 persons named, journalist Vora to get a separate supplementary document
ADVERTISEMENT
More than five months after MiD DAY Special Investigations Editor Jyotirmoy Dey was murdered, the Mumbai Crime Branch has filed a chargesheet against 12 persons, including fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan, in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act special court on Saturday.
The Asian Age journalist Jigna Vora was not named in the charge sheet, which ran to 3,055 pages.
On September 8, the Crime Branch had slapped the stringent MCOCA against those who had been arrested in the case.
The charge sheet includes Satish Kalya, the sharp shooter who fatally shot Dey and Anil Waghmode, who had conducted a recce of the MiD DAY office premises, where Dey would park his bike.
Vora, who is the Deputy Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper, was arrested on November 25. According to the police, Vora allegedly gave Rajan the license plate number of Dey's motorcycle and his address. A separate supplementary chargesheet, elaborating her role in Dey's murder, will be filed later, the police said.
In a related development, Murtuza Diwan, a journalist had appeared in the MCOCA court on Friday to submit some evidence in the case. In his application, Diwan informed the court that Vora had given him a SIM card and a mobile phone after she settled a property dispute involving a prominent personality from South Mumbai, using that device. After her arrest, Diwan said that he was afraid that the Crime Branch would arrest him. However, on Saturday, Diwan withdrew his application and told the court that he will not surrender any SIM card or mobile handset. The crime branch told the court that they had no objection to the withdrawal of Diwan's application, as the records in the cellphone had no bearing to the Dey case.
While Rajan and his aide, Nayan Singh, have been declared absconding, the remaining accused named in the chargesheet Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph, and Deepak Sisodia remain under arrest.
Singh, a native of Nainital, had supplied weapon to Sisodia, which was used to kill Dey.
Rajan had apparently ordered the killing of Dey, a senior journalist, after the latter had written a series of articles against him.
Dey was shot dead on June 11 while he was on his motorbike, near his residence in Powai. The chargesheet includes the names of 34 eyewitnesses.