A day after Mumbai police claimed to have successfully cracked the J Dey murder case, they said the senior journalist was supposed to have met Dawood Ibrahim aide Iqbal Mirchi during his visit to England last month. However, they suspect, the meeting never took place.
It has been reported that one reason fugitive don Chhota Rajan might have got Dey gunned down was because he feared Dey was passing on information about him to the D-gang. He was in particular alarmed since he believed the supposed rendezvous with Mirchi did occur.
The police are now trying to corroborate their suspicion by ascertaining the identity of the man Dey met in London. On Tuesday, "we phoned the tour operator's guide Dey used to enquire about his stay in England. The guide told us that Dey broke away from the scheduled programme to visit someone," said a senior official. "We are next going to show him pictures of Dawood and Mirchi to confirm our suspicion."
Cops on Tuesday said that the seven accused have divulged the motive behind Dey's killing on June 11, but it is still being verified. "Rajan told Satish Kalia (the gunman) about the motive after the murder. During interrogation, Kalia revealed it to us but we are verifying his claims since it is a sensitive case," joint commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy told PTI.
The police intend to invoke Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999, against the seven arrested men. And Rajan's name will be added to list of the accused.
Dey's Europe visit, the police say, is a major piece of the mystery behind the sensational murder. The senior scribe, cops claim, paid Rs 45,000 to the tour operator by cheque and another Rs 45,000 by cash. Also, he ostensibly left his mobile phone switched on in Mumbai while away on the trip that lasted about 10 days.
Another important piece of the puzzle, the police say, is Dey's planned trip to the Philippines.
He initially refused to go on a junket to the Southeast Asian nation, but agreed after a telephone chat with Rajan. "Dey told Rajan about his visit to the Philippines and asked for a meeting," a senior official said. "Somebody who did not like Dey might have suggested to Rajan that the meeting was a ploy hatched by Shakeel to get Rajan bumped off."
Soon after, Rajan called up Kalia. "Tumko ek aadmi ka kam karna hai. Woh gaddar Dawood ka aadmi hai (You have to eliminate a traitor, who is working for Dawood)," Rajan told Kalia, according to the gunman's confession to the police.
Though efforts are on to find the motive, some policemen say it might never come out. Dey's murder might go the same way as Pramod Mahajan's, in which no motive was mentioned in the court papers.
A veteran crime reporter, Dey was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on June 11 as he was returning to his Powai residence. More than a fortnight after the killing, the Mumbai police on Monday claimed they had cracked the case with the arrest of seven men. The hit, they said, was ordered by Rajan. The police identified the accused as Kalia, Anil Waghmore, Arun Dhake, Sachin Gaikwad, Nilesh Shengle alias Babloo, Abhijeet Shinde and Mangesh Agawane.
