A Mumbai court on Wednesday convicted gangster Chhota Rajan in the murder case of journalist J Dey while acquitting former journalist Jigna Vora and another accused in the case due to lack of evidence. Besides Rajan, special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court judge Sameer Adkar convicted eight others in the case. Vora and Paulson Joseph were acquitted due to lack of evidence and the prosecution’s failure to prove the case against them beyond reasonable doubt The sentencing in the case likely later on Wednesday. The prosecution in the case has demanded the maximum punishment for the convicts, saying that J Dey was a journalist, who represented the fourth pillar of democracy.
Rajan is lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi after his deportation to India following his arrest in Indonesia in October 2015. The veteran crime journalist was shot dead in suburban Powai, north-east Mumbai, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on June 11, 2011, while he was on his way home. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court framed charges against Chhota Rajan in the case in 2016. According to a supplementary charge sheet by the CBI, Rajan had Dey killed because he was miffed with some articles written by him, and also because a planned book of his portrayed Rajan as a ‘chindi’ (petty) criminal. Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25, 2015, and deported to India. According to the prosecution, Vora was accused of instigating Rajan against Dey and Paulson was charged with procuring two global SIM cards and handing them over to another accused Satish Kaliya along with Rs 2 lakh to carry out the killing.
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