Journalist's death: Protest march held in Mumbai

Mumbai: Journalists in Mumbai have demanded strong action against the culprits in top crime reporter J Dey's murder.

On Monday, they held a march to Mantralaya, the seat of the Maharashtra government, to protest the attack on Mr Dey.

The rally started from the Press club at 12 noon.

The Mumbai police say a ballistics test shows crime journalist J Dey was shot dead with a weapon used mostly by the Dawood gang. But, they are looking at various possibilities; even after more than 24 hours, the police are struggling for concrete leads.

"There is no concrete evidence so far but I'm told the cops are working on a breakthrough", said Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. (Also read: Investigations on in the right direction, says RR Patil)

Mr Dey was murdered in the broad daylight in Mumbai.

Although the motive is not clear, sources say it may not just be Dey's stories on the Dawood gang or the oil mafia that led to his murder. There might be a personal vendetta angle.

Police say the possible suspects are:

• Dawood's sister Haseena Parkar and policemen close to the gang that Mr Dey did stories against.
• Encounter cop Pradeep Sharma and oil mafia leader Janardhan Bhai - who are accused in the murder of gangster Lakhan Bhaiyya. Both of them are allegedly close to the D gang and are already under arrest. Mr Dey was currently collecting information on the alleged murder of an eyewitness by them.
• Chhota Rajan gang member Umaid Khan who is a prime accused in the recent attack on Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar. Mr Dey had written a piece on his mother that he considered derogatory.

Special police teams are probing into the death of Mr Dey following an emergency meeting convened by the state Chief Minister at his residence where he took stock of the investigation, officials said.