J Dey - A Forgotten Hero

The second death anniversary of noted Mumbai crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey got over recently (June 11) but our media, with its nano attention span, has 'moved on' to 'J Dey who?' levels. Last heard that it was recovering from a severe bout of NaMonia. This is despite the fact that the person happened to be from their own tribe.

Probably apart from Mid-Day newspaper, where Dey was employed when the unfortunate incident took place, no media house bothered to  remember him. Mid-Day highlighted the sad plight of his family, especially his mother who feels her son has been denied justice. 

It all happened on a rainy afternoon in Mumbai and many question regarding the audacious killing still remain unanswered. The sequence looked straight out of some Ram Gopal Varma's gangster flick - the only difference was that Dey was riding a humble motorcycle and not inside some swanky car. Four hitmen in two motorcycles pumped bullets at a close range and sped away.

Though the four men were arrested along with seven others and two chargesheets (each running into thousands of pages) filed, the overall picture is still quite hazy. The police would like us to believe that Chhota Rajan had given supari to kill Dey at the behest of Jigna Vora - a woman crime reporter of Asian Age with professional jealousy being the main motive. The case is going on and we hope the police has enough material to prove their allegation.

Already the Bombay High Court had on Feb 13, 2013, censured them for not procuring vital call records that would have established the conspiratorial link between gangster Chhotta Rajan and his lieutenants in India accused of carrying out Dey's murder. The police was tardy in approaching the telecom company for the call records, and the company (as per its rules) had wiped them off as it was more than a year old.

The tragedy of this country is that its prominent underworld mafia dons are holed up in safe havens of Pakistan, Middle East or Far East and well beyond the reach of our law enforcement agencies. They can only lay hands on small fries like sharpshooters and accomplices lurking in the mean streets of Mumbai. Hence the truth regarding many of the cases too remain at best glorified hypotheses and quite often miserably fall apart in the court of law.

The conduct of the media ranged from insensitive to slanderous. We had the bizarre spectacle of various gangsters calling up various media house to either disown or own the killings. First we had Chhotta Shakeel calling up newspaper and TV offices saying he did not kill Dey! Later we had Chhotta Rajan explaining why he killed Dey and at whose behest. In addition, various 'sources' were more than obliging to further spice up news stories. In their race for 'exclusives' and TRPs, media houses unconditionally lapped up these statements.

Going by these reports it would appear that Dey was more of a fixer for various mafia dons than a journalist; had amassed prime properties in Mumbai; a girlfriend tucked somewhere in the city; was frequently visiting abroad to meet various mafia dons. It goes without saying that all these reports warrant lavish pinches of salt. If a well known journalist can be slandered in this manner after his death, one shudders about the plight of lesser mortals.

Thankfully amidst all this puerile circus we had Dey getting recognition in Washington DC at a museum for journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty. Along with his photo they have briefly mentioned about his coverage of Mumbai underworld and the oil mafia and ends with a poignant remark by his mother, "You fought for others rights. Now who will fight for yours?"

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

J Dey whodunnit

The investigation into the sensational killing of crime reporter J Dey is throwing up very unusual suspects and bizarre revelations. It all happened on a rainy afternoon in Mumbai about six months back, but even now the picture is hazy and grainy.

After that fateful afternoon, the journalistic community took to streets and as the person killed was a high-profile (though intensely secretive) reporter, the police went into a huddle.

The needle of suspicion first swung towards Additional Commissioner of Police Anil Mahabole. He was alleged to have links with Dawood gang and had filed a defamation case against Dey for a report that put him in poor light. Mahabole too was accused of threatening Dey's colleague Tarakant Dwivedi alias Akela, who was booked under Official Secrets Act for reporting on poor storage of arms in CST armoury. The ACP was questioned and then let off.

Oil mafia link: The next in line was the oil mafia link. In the backdrop of the gruesome burning of deputy collector Yashwant Sonawane in Jalgaon, it was presumed probably Dey was on the verge of exposing something big against the mafia. He had written about them in the past. The diesel mafia kingpin Mohammed Ali was questioned but somehow the trail ran cold. Or at least we did not hear much about it.

D Company: The darling of the ISI was the next to come under scanner. Three members of his right hand man Chotta Shakeel are arrested by police. We had this bizarre spectacle of Shakeel calling up newspaper offices and TV stations saying he did not kill Dey! And his gang does not believe in killing 'innocent' persons.

In fact he even reveals that a Mumbai police officer has sought his help to detect the culprits. Probably like Lalu Yadav and the dabbawalas of Mumbai, he too should take up lecturing IIM students on topics such as media management and image building - the underworld way. Or maybe if the IIMs are not keen he can approach those who dare to think beyond IIMs!

Chotta Rajan: Ultimately the spotlight fell on the other elusive but 'patriotic' don. After nearly a fortnight of wild goose chase the Mumbai police finally claimed it has 'cracked' the case and it was indeed Rajan who had ordered the hit on Dey.

Seven alleged shooters belonging to the gang were arrested from different part of the country. It seems these guys had no idea whom they were knocking down and came to know only through subsequent TV coverage.

But the question was who gave him the 'supari'? There were no easy answers as the long arm of law proved woefully short in this case. However, after further investigation police came to the conclusion that Rajan himself had ordered killing of Dey and even 'regrets' doing so.
Jigna Vora: By this time the story had become cold and started languishing in inside pages of newspapers and rare mention in TV. Around early November the story was getting resuscitated by innuendos of a scribe having incited the don against Dey.

But when the police revealed that it was Jigna Vora, Deputy Chief Reporter at Asian Age, the media community was stunned. It is indeed bizarre to think that a professional rivalry would end up with cold-blooded murder. Her contradictory statements to police seem to be pushing her further into deep waters. After Radia tapes this happens to be a new low for the fourth estate.

Intriguing Dey: It is indeed intriguing to know about the kind of privacy Dey used to maintain in his office. Many of his colleagues came to know of his wife's identity or the location of his house after his murder.

On one hand he is seen as an upright crime reporter exposing people in high places; there are also reports of his closeness to Chotta Rajan gang. The proximity of crime reporters in Mumbai to the mafia adds a new disturbing dimension to the gangland power politics. The underworld's link with politicians and police is already a well documented fact.

As the investigations progress it remains to be see as to how much of these evidences will stand the litmus test of judicial scrutiny.