A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a list of witnesses and schedule the next date of hearing so that the trial of the murder case of senior journalist J. Dey can proceed further. Meanwhile, the defence lawyers cross-examined the first investigating officer of the case but the advocate defending deported gangster Chhota Rajan declined to cross-examine him.

Dey was shot dead in suburban Powai on June 11, 2011. “We are challenging the FIR saying it is a fabricated document,” said advocate Santosh Deshpande, defending prime accused Satish Kalya, Sachin Gaikwad and Mangesh Agwani.

During cross-examination of complainant Tiwatne, a police officer, the defence suggested that the police did not find lead (from a bullet) at the spot. According to the defence, what the police had found at the spot was a piece of iron, and not lead. They also claimed that the FIR was registered at a later stage and not at the time that was shown by the police. The defence has claimed that had the police found lead from the spot, it would have been mentioned in the FIR.

The Indonesia police arrested Rajan at Bali airport on October 25, 2015 after he arrived from Australia.