Mumbai: Police Claim Chhota Rajan Gang Behind J Dey's Murder
Pics by Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network
Mumbai, Jun 27: The notorious Chhota Rajan gang was behind the killing of Mid-Day journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, police said on Monday June 27.
The police had earlier arrested seven people in connection with the murder. They had been rounded up from Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The police had questioned nearly 70 suspects before zeroing in on the seven arrested, and police sources said that it was a case of contract killng by the Chhota Rajan gang.
The seven who were nabbed are Satish Kalia, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaekwad, Anil Maghmode, Mangesh Agavane, Nilesh Shidage and Abhijit Shinde. All are said to be of Chhota Rajan gang, it is learnt.
Dey was known to be a wizard at covering the underworld stories for Mid-Day, and had even written books on the subject. He was shot dead by unindentified men on June 11 in broad daylight near his residence in Powai.
IANS adds:
Mumbai, Jun 27: The seven men from the underworld who killed investigative reporter Jyotirmoy Dey had no idea who he was when they shot him dead, police said Monday.
Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner Himanshu Roy identified the man who fired the five bullets that killed Dey June 11 as Satish Kalia, a professional assassin who acted on the orders of underworld don Chhota Rajan.
But, even as they felled him, the killer gang of seven did not know who the victim was or why he was being killed, Roy quoted the arrested men as saying.
They panicked after realising that the victim was an ace journalist.
Roy said the gang members immediately split and dispersed to different parts of the country to escape the police dragnet.
The gang, Roy said, had carried out "a very professional job", having trailed Dey -- on the basis of the physical description given to them and the journalist's motorcycle registration number -- for days.
Six of the killers rode on three motorcycles while the seventh member was in a back-up van.
Roy told a news conference that Kalia, 34, used a Czech revolver and 25 "extremely deadly cartridges" that had been provided to him for the kill.
On June 11, it was Kalia who fired five bullets at Dey, one of which pierced his heart.
The first arrests were made in the temple town of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, where three from the killer gang were caught.
Later, the others were picked up from other places, including Mumbai and Karnataka.
Police said they had seized the killer weapon and 10 mobile telephones from the gang.
Roy said police were initially met with dead ends and disappointments.
"It was a very coordinated and copy book operation. A job very, very well done, very professionally done."