Mumbai:
Mumbai journalist Jigna Vora who was arrested today in connection with the murder of MidDay reporter J Dey has been sent to police custody till December 1. Ms Vora, who works for the Asian Age newspaper in Mumbai, has been charged with aiding and abetting the crime.
J Dey was shot dead by in broad daylight by four motorcycle-borne assailants in a crowded street in suburban Powai on June 11.
Ms Vora has been arrested for allegedly giving details like Mr Dey's motorcycle registration number and his address to fugitive underworld don Chhota Rajan, who is accused of masterminding the murder.
She has been arrested under provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and will be tried for murder and conspiracy like the 10 other accused who have been arrested in the case, the police said.
"This is not a rounding up of people. If we have picked up someone, there is good reason. Prima facie she was involved, hence we arrested her," Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik said.
"It's a sensitive case and we have been very cautious. We have taken each step after a lot of caution, only after being 100 per cent sure," he said. Her phone had been seized, Mr Patnaik added.
The police went to Ms Vora's Ghatkopar residence this morning and took her to the Crime Branch office where she was arrested.
A crime and court reporter covering the city's underbelly, including the underworld, Jigna Vora broke down in court in the afternoon when the judge sent her to police custody. Presenting the police case, counsel for the prosecution argued that Ms Vora had transgressed her role as a news reporter when she passed on information about J Dey to Chhota Rajan.
Her organisation maintained that she was innocent and that they stand by her. "We stand by Jigna Vora. She is innocent and has impeachable integrity. As an organisation and as her Editor we stand by her, the truth will come out," said Hussain Zaidi, Editor, Asian Age.
The police claimed that after Mr Dey was killed, Ms Vora allegedly tried to mislead them by publishing stories of a possible role of Dawood Ibrahim in the murder. The police were making these allegations on the basis of numerous stories that were published in the newspaper that Ms Vora worked for, sources said.
The police have recorded Jigna Vora's statement twice in the past. When Ms Vora's second statement was recorded about a month ago, she had been evasive. She reportedly told the police that she had not spoken to Chhota Rajan and that she did not know Mr Dey personally.
According to sources, the Crime Branch has obtained Ms Vora's call data record which shows that she made and received calls from Chhota Rajan gang members. Also, independent witnesses have given statements to the police that she had a squabble with Mr Dey when a member of the Chhota Rajan gang was gunned down in 2010, the sources said.
The police had made 10 arrests in the case before today, including builder Vinod Asrani and sharp shooters associated with the underworld. A close associate of Chhota Rajan, Paulson Joseph, is in the custody of Mumbai Police for his alleged involvement in the killing of the senior journalist.
Mumbai Police has to file a chargesheet in the case in the special court handling the MCOCA case by December 4.
Who was J Dey?Mr Dey, who was the Investigations Editor with the MidDay, spent most of his reporting career bringing out accounts of the goings-on in the Mumbai underworld for several newspapers including the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times.
He wrote 'Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers' and 'Khallas'. The books are considered to be among the most authoritative writings on the Mumbai underworld.
Mr Dey was known for his investigative reports and had reported extensively on the Mumbai underworld, including fugitive dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan.
One of the angles the police probed after Mr Dey was gunned down was the involvement of the oil mafia since the journalist had been writing about their operations.