J Dey murder: Journalist Jigna Vora charge sheeted

The Mumbai Crime Branch today charge sheeted journalist Jigna Vora under stringent provisions of MCOCA and various other penal offences for her alleged role in the sensational murder of senior crime reporter J Dey.

Vora has been charged under various sections of IPC including murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, besides stringent provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and the Arms Act.

The special MCOCA court took cognisance of the charge sheet and extended the custody of all accused till March 12. Jigna has been shown as the 11th accused in the case.


The Crime Branch, which is investigating the murder of MiD Day journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, had on December 3 filed its first charge sheet in the case against against 12 accused including fugitive underworld don Chhota Rajan which did not name Vora, who was arrested on November 25.

Vora, Deputy Chief of Bureau of Asian Age was arrested under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on charges of supplying licence plate number of the motorcycle and address of the slain journalist to Rajan.

Dey was claimed to have been shot dead on the orders of Rajan, who allegedly gave Rs 5 lakh to the accused for the contract killing that took place in suburban Powai on June 11.

The charge sheet had described the role of each accused but did not mention that of Vora who has now been named in the supplementary charge sheet. The police had seized her mobile phones and computer records.

According to police sources, Vora's name had figured in the telephonic conversations between the accused and Rajan. The accused against whom charge sheet had been filed were Rohee Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia. All of them are in custody under MCOCA charges. Chhota Rajan and his aide Nayan Singh Bisht were shown as absconding.

According to police, two articles written by Dey against Rajan on May 31 and June 2 could have cost the journalist his life.

Though the first charge sheet filed in the case had not named Vora, police suspected that her professional rivalry with Dey could have led her to get involved in the sensational killing. Crime branch sources said Vora had spoken to Rajan over phone quite a few times before the crime.

The charge sheet had named 176 witnesses and had on record the statements made by them. Three of the arrested accused--Paulson Joseph, Deepak Sisodia and Arun Dake-- had also given their confession in keeping with provisions of MCOCA.

The charge sheet said Satish Kalya, Anil Waghmode, Arun Dake, Abijeet Shinde, Nilesh Shendge, Sachin Gaikwad and Mangesh Agawane were at the scene of the crime.

According to the charge sheet, Kalya had fatally shot Dey, while Vinod Asrani had shown the target to Anil and Dake. Absconding accused Nayan Singh and Sisodia had supplied weapons to the accused, while Paulson had given Rs five lakh contract money to the killers. The 3055-page charge sheet ran into three volumes.