Dey was Jigna Vora's mentor

Jigna was produced before the MCOCA court yesterday and was remanded to police custody till December 1. During the proceedings, Jigna's lawyer presented an application to the court stating that her client was innocent and feared that the police may coerce and take a confession while in custody. The application, which was taken on record, further stated that Jigna did not wish to make any confession as she claimed to have no knowledge of the crime.

Special Prosecutor Dilip Shah contended that Jigna's police custody was needed as she had been misleading the investigators with her statements. Jigna had been questioned numerous times by the Crime Branch, and the investigators claim that she kept changing her version and offering misleading statements.

Shah added that during the course of the murder investigation it came to light that Jigna had provided vital information and assisted in providing clues to the assailants that eventually led to the murder of Dey. According to investigators, Jigna provided the registration number of the motorcycle that Dey drove to work every day.

Shah said that the police custody was required to ascertain if the information was provided to the gang members or if it was passed directly to Chhota Rajan.

The Crime Branch had been keeping tabs on Jigna's cellphone and on checking her call history they realised that Jigna had been regularly in touch with the gang over the phone. However, during her interrogation she denied having any links or knowledge of the gang members.

The investigators further discovered that soon after Dey's murder in June 2011, Jigna ran a series of articles that pointed a finger at Rajan's rival Dawood Ibrahim for the murder. The cops believe that it was a deliberate and well-calculated move to throw the investigation off-track.

Drama in court

Jigna was produced before Judge SM Modak in court no 56 of the MCOCA court. As she entered the court room, some of her former colleagues who were present in the court stood up to greet her. Jigna saw her colleagues and broke down in court. She burst into tears and was seen being comforted by her colleagues and senior scribes in the court.

"Be strong, Jigna." "We will fight this." "It's going to be alright." -- were some of the consoling words that reporters had to say to Jigna as she was produced before the judge.

After hearing both sides, Judge SM Modak remanded Jigna to police custody till December 1.


Criminal Sections

After being interrogated for nearly a month, Jigna was formally booked under

1) MCOCA section 3(1), 3(2) and 3 (4)
2) Arms Act section 3, 25, 27
3) IPC sec 302 (murder), 34 (common intent), 120-b (conspiracy)

*Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA)
Under MCOCA, any offence which results in a person's death would be punished with a life imprisonment or death penalty and subject to a minimum fine of Rs 1 lakh.


Police says:

Soon after the formal arrest was made, Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik said that there was good reason to arrest Jigna. "Prima facie she was involved in the crime. Therefore, we have arrested her," said Patnaik.

Though the Commissioner refused to divulge the motive behind the murder, he said that it was a sensitive case and that all precautions have been taken before the arrest. "If we have picked up a person, there is good reason behind it. We are 100 per cent sure," he added.

Jigna's cellphone records show frequent calls made and received to members of the Chhota Rajan gang. Patnaik said that her cellphone has been seized.

Himanshu Roy, Jt CP (Crime), was tightlipped about the exact nature of the information that was allegedly passed on from Jigna to Rajan's shooters.  He said, "Jigna Vora played a role in the conspiracy that was hatched to murder crime journalist J Dey. She has been arrested."

The shooters:

Ten people have been arrested so far for the murder of J Dey on June 11, 2011.  Satish Kaliya, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Abhijeet Shinde, Anil Waghmode, Paulson Joseph, Vinod Asrani, Deepak Sisodia, Nilesh Shendge and Mangesh Agawane.

Four men on two motorbikes had followed and later intercepted J Dey near a mall in Powai on June 11.

Satish Kaliya had pumped five bullets into Dey. He died on his way to the hospital and was declared dead on arrival.


The Mentor
 
J Dey was a senior scribe with over two decades of experience in reporting on the Mumbai underworld.

Over the course of his illustrious career he had worked for the Indian Express, Hindustan Times and later was Editor-Crime and Investigations at MiD DAY. He had acted as a mentor to several budding reporters during his career. Jigna Vora was also one such junior reporter who had learned the ropes under Dey at MiD DAY.  Jigna was a reporter who covered the crime beat and was a regular at the Sessions and High Court in Mumbai.

Dey had helped and introduced Jigna to several sources in the underworld. She was a fast learner and had soon made strong connections in the underworld. She broke several big stories while she was working for the tabloid and soon rose in the ranks. During this period she became friendly with a Rajan henchman in Chembur. In 2010, the Rajan shooter was gunned down at his residence. At the condolence meet for the goon, Jigna had an altercation with Dey following which the duo fell apart.

Jigna then moved on and joined the Asian Age in Mumbai. She was the Deputy Bureau Chief at Asian Age, Mumbai when she was arrested.


Scribes and friends

Being arrested for a murder is a huge crime, but being arrested for the murder of one's mentor is by far the biggest crime. Jigna has been arrested on charges of being a partner in the conspiracy to murder senior journalist J Dey. The latter was a one-time mentor of the accused and a well-known and respected name in the media industry.

Jigna's colleagues and other reporters were aware of the fact that the Crime Branch had been questioning her in the Dey murder case for the last month. However, many were shocked to know that she was formally arrested under the stringent MCOCA that was drafted to curtail organised crime in the state.

Jigna's organisation, The Asian Age, released a statement after she was booked under MCOCA. "We stand by Jigna Vora. She is innocent. The truth will come out soon," said Husain Zaidi, Editor, Asian Age, Mumbai.

While her organisation has stood by her, there are others who refuse to give Jigna the benefit of the doubt. "If she has given the house details and bike registration number to the gang members, then she deserves the harshest punishment for it," said a former colleague of Dey and Jigna.

Another crime reporter who was an understudy to Dey said that it was shocking to hear that the person who sat next to him in the office had played a role in the murder of his mentor. "This is very shocking news, indeed," he said, on condition of anonymity.


Who is Jigna Vora?

Jigna Vora began her career as a journalist covering the courts. She has worked for Mumbai Mirror, MiD DAY and later The Asian Age. When she joined MiD DAY, she came under the wings of senior journalist J Dey, who was the Editor-Crime and Investigations at MiD DAY.

Dey introduced her to many sources in the underworld, including henchmen of gangster Chhota Rajan. It was Dey who introduced Jigna to Farid Tanasha, a close aide of Rajan. After Tanasha’s murder in 2010, Jigna and Dey had an altercation at the condolence meet. Soon they parted ways and Jigna went on to work for a national daily.

Jigna, is a single mother and was featured on a television show in 2007. She has had a tremulous personal life and has been raising her child alone. The story of her courageous attempt at battling the odds made her a success story on the television show.