Mumbai:
The police have seized one more mobile phone from Jigna Vora, who is accused of involvement in the murder of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey. This is the seventh cellphone belonging to Ms Vora that police have found. Investigators are now hoping that the information obtained from these phones would help them piece together her exact role in the murder.
Mr Dey, working with MidDay, was shot dead in broad daylight in suburban Powai on June 11, allegedly by underworld don Chhota Rajan's men.
Ms Vora, who was the Deputy Chief of Bureau of Asian Age, has been accused of providing the registration number of the motorcycle Mr Dey was travelling in when he was shot dead and his address to Rajan. She was arrested on November 25 and is in police custody till December 9.
The phones seized by the police have been sent to a Mumbai forensic laboratory for tests and the reports are expected in a fortnight. The police are probing calls lasting as long as 1600 seconds and 1300 seconds between Jigna Vora and Chhota Rajan. Ms Vora changed her phone regularly to destroy the evidence, said police sources.
Joseph Paulson, an alleged Chhota Rajan gang member who has been arrested in the case, is alleged to have acted as the mediator between Ms Vora and the don. He has reportedly told the police that Ms Vora often used his cell phone and that of another accused, Vinod Asrani, to make calls to Rajan. Mr Asrani, a Mumbai builder, is among the 11 who have been arrested in the case.
"Vora spoke to Rajan from Paulson's apartment in Vashi and used to pass on all the information through Paulson," a Mid Day report quoted a police officer as saying. The report quoted the police as saying that Ms Vora had sold her phones at different places making them almost untraceable. She sold one phone in Ahmedabad and also deleted data and call logs.
The police said that Ms Vora had confessed to having badmouthed J Dey in conversations with Chhota Rajan. But they added that when they questioned Ms Vora along with Joseph Paulson the two gave contradictory statements.
The police claim that Chhota Rajan was upset with two articles written by Mr Dey which portrayed him in bad light and hence ordered him to be killed.
Murtuza, a close friend of Ms Vora, has allegedly told the police that for the past four years, he and Ms Vora used to help members of the underworld, mainly the Chotta Rajan gang, in legal issues. He alleged that the two charged money for providing such help and the police are now scrutinising Ms Vora's bank accounts to establish her links with the underworld.
According to Mid Day, the police were also investigating why Ms Vora was gifted a phone by a prominent businessman who is also the brother in-law of a famous actor. Officials from the Crime Branch said that they would interrogate the actor's relative, it said.
Mr Dey, working with MidDay, was shot dead in broad daylight in suburban Powai on June 11, allegedly by underworld don Chhota Rajan's men.
Ms Vora, who was the Deputy Chief of Bureau of Asian Age, has been accused of providing the registration number of the motorcycle Mr Dey was travelling in when he was shot dead and his address to Rajan. She was arrested on November 25 and is in police custody till December 9.
The phones seized by the police have been sent to a Mumbai forensic laboratory for tests and the reports are expected in a fortnight. The police are probing calls lasting as long as 1600 seconds and 1300 seconds between Jigna Vora and Chhota Rajan. Ms Vora changed her phone regularly to destroy the evidence, said police sources.
Joseph Paulson, an alleged Chhota Rajan gang member who has been arrested in the case, is alleged to have acted as the mediator between Ms Vora and the don. He has reportedly told the police that Ms Vora often used his cell phone and that of another accused, Vinod Asrani, to make calls to Rajan. Mr Asrani, a Mumbai builder, is among the 11 who have been arrested in the case.
"Vora spoke to Rajan from Paulson's apartment in Vashi and used to pass on all the information through Paulson," a Mid Day report quoted a police officer as saying. The report quoted the police as saying that Ms Vora had sold her phones at different places making them almost untraceable. She sold one phone in Ahmedabad and also deleted data and call logs.
The police said that Ms Vora had confessed to having badmouthed J Dey in conversations with Chhota Rajan. But they added that when they questioned Ms Vora along with Joseph Paulson the two gave contradictory statements.
The police claim that Chhota Rajan was upset with two articles written by Mr Dey which portrayed him in bad light and hence ordered him to be killed.
Murtuza, a close friend of Ms Vora, has allegedly told the police that for the past four years, he and Ms Vora used to help members of the underworld, mainly the Chotta Rajan gang, in legal issues. He alleged that the two charged money for providing such help and the police are now scrutinising Ms Vora's bank accounts to establish her links with the underworld.
According to Mid Day, the police were also investigating why Ms Vora was gifted a phone by a prominent businessman who is also the brother in-law of a famous actor. Officials from the Crime Branch said that they would interrogate the actor's relative, it said.
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