Jigna Vora, the Deputy Bureau Chief of English daily “The Asian Age”, has been remanded to one week police custody under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Vora was questioned by the Crime Branch earlier also in connection with the case.
Even as her colleagues rallied around her, Vora was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch for conspiring, and aiding and abetting the murder of Dey. Husain Zai, resident editor of “The Asian Age” said: “We are convinced about Jigna Vora’s integrity as a journalist and I know every one of her underworld sources and her conversations with them. We are with her rock solid.”
The Mumbai Crime Branch has named gangster Chhota Rajan as the mastermind of the murder and have arrested 11 people so far, including the four alleged shooters seen trailing Dey in a CCTV video just before they shot him. In the court, the prosecution stated that they had gathered evidence in the form of telephonic records, that show Jigna in conversation with her underworld sources.
She gave some vital information, including Dey’s motorcycle number, his home and office addresses and his daily schedule to the underworld, that directly relates to the murder and also misguided the police during her interrogation and was non-cooperative. The defence, however, argued that the police had failed to pinpoint a motive behind Vora’s involvement and had no evidence to book her under the stringent MCOCA laws.
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