J Dey murder case: CBI gets permission to interrogate Chhota Rajan

A special MCOCA court situated inside the high-security Arthur Road jail in Mumbai on Tuesday granted the CBI permission to interrogate deported underworld don Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan in connection with senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case.

Rajan was produced before special judge A.L. Pansare and the judge verified with him if he had received the chargesheet. During court proceedings, the judge was annoyed because of some disturbance in the video-conferencing.

The CBI counsel Bharat Badami told the judge that as part of the investigation the CBI wants to interrogate Rajan. The judge then allowed the CBI to interrogate Rajan in jail for 10 days commencing January 27.

When the judge asked Rajan if he received the copy of the chargesheet, he replied in the positive, but also said that he would require some time to go through it. He also told the court that he needed to engage a lawyer and when the judge pointed out that lawyer Anshuman Sinha was already there in court on his behalf, Rajan said that the lawyer was from Delhi and he wanted to engage somebody from Mumbai for his case.

He also told the court that he had been kept in a high security cell and was taken out from it only once a week. “I need 15 days to a month for scanning (reading) the chargesheet and engage a lawyer in Mumbai,” said Rajan. However, after allowing CBI to interrogate Rajan, the judge adjourned the matter till February 5.

Rajan is facing around 70 cases in Maharashtra, which includes the journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case. The Maharashtra government has handed over all the cases against him to the CBI and so far the CBI is investigating further in connection with Rajan’s role only in this case. So far the crime branch is the prosecution agency for the remaining 10 accused in this case and special public prosecutor for crime branch was present in the court.

Satish Kaliya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph, Deepak Sisodia and Jigna Vora are names of other accused in this case.

Dey, a veteran crime reporter, was shot dead in suburban Powai by motor-cycle borne shooters on June 11, 2011, allegedly at the behest of Rajan.