HC dismisses petitions seeking CBI probe into J Dey's murder

Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI) The Bombay High Court in the
western Indian state Maharashtra Monday dismissed a batch of
petitions seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
probe into the murder of veteran crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey.
However, justices Ranjana Desai and R V More did not
pronounce the reasons in the operative part of their judgement
for dismissing the petitions.
A detailed order is likely to be available later.
The petitions seeking CBI probe had been filed in
public interest by advocate V P Patil, Mumbai Press Club,
Marathi Patrakar Parishad and former scribes S Balakrishna and
Ketan Tirodkar.
The Crime Branch of city police is at present probing
the case.
Opposing the petitions, Advocate General Ravi Kadam
argued that police had already arrested eight members of the
Chhota Rajan gang for Dey's killing, while stringent
provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act
(MCOCA) being invoked against them.
Every case need not be given to CBI, he said.
Reacting to the order, Gurbir Singh, President of
Press Club, said, "We are disappointed that our petition has
been dismissed. Unfortunately, the circumstances remain
largely the same--police has caught a couple of small fries
and have no idea why and who masterminded the killing. In the
interest of J Dey, we would appeal in the Supreme Court".
Senior Counsel Navroze Serwai, appearing for the Press
Club, argued that police are yet to nab the main accused in
the case and have so far given contradictory reports to the
media on the course of investigation.
Dey (56), employed as Editor (Investigations) with
English tabloid, Mid Day, was shot dead on June 11 at suburban
Powai.
According to the Crime Branch, the eight arrested
persons had carried out the murder allegedly at the behest of
fugitive underworld don Chhota Rajan.
The judges had earlier gone through the progress
reports of the investigations into the case and granted time
to the crime branch to probe the killing.
Mumbai Press Club, which has 1200 journalists as its
members, filed an affidavit saying that they felt that Dey was
murdered due to his professional and investigative reporting
into the alleged links between a section of police and members
of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang.
While former journalist Ketan Tirodkar pointed out
some instances of alleged nexus between police and underworld
and sought to justify a CBI probe into Dey's murder, another
petitioner Balakrishna also made a similar plea saying police
probe did not inspire confidence in public.