J Dey Murder: The prosecution claimed that six assailants followed Dey around before shooting him near Powai garden at the behest of underworld gangster Chhota Rajan.
A SPECIAL Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court is likely to pronounce the judgment in the trial of slain journalist Jyotirmoy Dey on May 2. The journalist was shot by two bikers on June 11, 2011 while he was on the way to his residence in Powai. The prosecution claimed that six assailants followed Dey around before shooting him near Powai garden at the behest of underworld gangster Chhota Rajan.
On Tuesday, the defence advocate for Rajan completed his final argument, concluding the trial, after which Special Judge Sameer S Adkar pronounced the date for the judgment. Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said that the prosecution had examined 155 witnesses in the case to prove the conspiracy to murder Dey. The defence did not examine any witnesses, he said.
A total of 12 accused were arrested in connection with the case, including alleged shooter, Rohit Joseph alias Satish Kalia and former journalist Jigna Vora. One of the accused, Vinod Asrani alias Vinod Chembur, died pending trial in 2015.
The prosecution had claimed that Rajan had hatched the conspiracy to murder Dey after he had developed the view that Dey had “crossed the limits”. Against Rajan, the CBI claimed that he ordered for 56-year-old Dey to be murdered over his proposed books and “defamatory” articles which the gangster felt showed him in poor light. Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25, 2015, and was later deported to India. Lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi, Rajan was was produced for the trial through a video-conference link.
Apart from the arrested accused, the chargesheet also mentions wanted accused in the case including Ravi Rattesar, who had arranged for international SIM cards used in the crime.
Rattersar was nabbed in Dubai last year and India had put in an extradition request so that he could come to the country and face trial. The accused face punishment for charges including murder, criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and relevant sections of the Arms Act and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.