The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Wednesday, 2 May, awarded life imprisonment to Mumbai gangster Chhota Rajan and eight others in the murder of Mid-Day crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey.
The court, however, acquitted Asian Age journalist Jigna Vora and Rajan’s aide, Paulson Joseph, who were among the 12 people accused of murdering the journalist.
Dey was shot multiple times by the members of a gang associated with Rajan.
- Apart from Mumbai underworld gangster Chhota Rajan, Satish Kaliya, Anil Waghmode, Abhijit Shinde, Nilesh Shendge, Arun Dake, Mangesh Agawane, Sachin Gaikwad and Deepak Sisodia were also convicted
- One of the accused, Vinod Asrani, died after prolonged illness in 2015
Chhota Rajan, 8 Other Sentenced to Life
A special court in Mumbai sentenced gangster Chhota Rajan and 8 others to life imprisonment.
We Demand Maximum Punishment: Special Public Prosecutor
The prosecution has demanded maximum punishment for the convicts, saying that J Dey was a journalist who represented the fourth pillar of democracy.
The victim was a journalist and represented the fourth pillar of our democracy. A journalist was attacked for doing his job, and a stringent note must be taken of this fact by the court. A strong message needs to be sent out to the public.Pradeep Gharat, special public prosecutor
According to the prosecution, Asian Age journalist Jigna Vora, who was out on bail during the pendency of the trial, had been in constant touch with Rajan before the incident.
The CBI, in its charge-sheet, claimed that Vora had complained to Rajan about Dey, and instigated him to execute the conspiracy to kill him.
The accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to murder (302), criminal conspiracy (120(b)) and destruction of evidence (204), and under provisions of the stringent MCOCA and the Arms Act.
All the nine persons convicted in the case will face a sentence under the MCOCA and Section 302 of the IPC – which imposes the maximum punishment of death penalty. They are also liable to pay a fine under the IPC.
The defence advocates urged the court to show leniency towards the convicts on several grounds such as their age and that some of them had young children or ailing parents to take care of.
They also argued that the present case could not fall into the category of the 'rarest of rare' – an essential factor to warrant the death penalty under Section 302 of the IPC.
The prosecutor, Pradeep Gharat, however, argued that rarest of rare or not, the fact remained that the nine persons had been convicted under Section 302 and faced either the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The court, while sentencing them, must keep in mind that it needed to send out a "strong message.” He urged the court to award "some part" of the fine imposed upon the convicts to Dey's sister to help her.
Gharat claimed that Dey's sister suffered from "some illness" and that the monetary assistance would help her live a better life.
MCOCA Court Convicts Chhota Rajan, Acquits Jigna Vora, Joseph Paulsen
Gangster Chhota Rajan and eight others have been convicted by a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court here for killing senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in 2011.
Judge Sameer Adkar, however, acquitted former journalist Jigna Vora, who was charged with instigating Rajan to carry out the murder. The judge also acquitted Paulson Joseph, who was accused of handling the financial operations concerned with the conspiracy.
Vora broke down in court soon after her acquittal.
Rajan, who was witnessing proceedings from New Delhi's Tihar jail via video conferencing, said "theek hai" (alright), when the judge read out the sentence and asked the gangster if he wanted to say anything.
This is the first major conviction for Rajan since he was deported to India following his arrest at Bali airport in 2015.
Earlier last year, Rajan was convicted by a court in Delhi and sentenced to seven years imprisonment in a case of fake passport.
Judge Adkar is likely to award the sentence later in the day.
Besides Rajan, the others convicted in the case are Satish Kaliya, Anil Waghmode, Abhijit Shinde, Nilesh Shendge, Arun Dake, Mangesh Agawane, Sachin Gaikwad and Deepak Sisodia.