Journalist Jigna Vora arrested in J Dey murder case

MUMBAI: The crime branch of Mumbai police has arrested journalist Jigna Vora for her alleged role in the conspiracy to murder senior journalist J Dey. Vora was produced in the special MCOCA court on Friday afternoon, where she was remanded to police custody till December 1. Vora works with an English daily in Mumbai.

Senior journalist J Dey was shot dead in broad day-light at Powai in Mumbai by four gunmen on June 11. Police investigation revealed that the attackers were members of underworld don Chhota Rajan’s gang. Six attackers were arrested by police earlier and five others were arrested in connection with the murder.

On Friday, rime branch officials arrested Vora for ‘conspiring, aiding and abetting’ the murder of Dey. The police asked for 14 days’ custody for interrogating her but the judge awarded only seven days’ custody.

The police have recordings of several conversations between Jigna Vora and Chhota Rajan, where she is heard describing to the underworld don the activities of J Dey. Mumbai Police commissioner Arup Patnaik said, “we have arrested her because we believe there is her involvement in the conspiracy. We will get more information in the interrogation and the evidence will be produced in court. Police sources said the reason behind J Dey’s murder was Rajan’s suspicion that Dey was working for a rival.

Speaking to reporters, Vora’s lawyer Girish Kulkarni claimed the police have no concrete evidence to prove any involvement of his client in the murder. The telephone conversations were revealed earlier and there is no way it can be linked to the murder just because she had those conversations with Rajan as a journalist.