‘Killers knew about Dey routine’

Even as the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested seven men on Sunday for their alleged role in the murder of veteran investigative journalist J Dey,the police suspect someone,who might have known the reporter well,had passed on important information about him for carrying out the attack.

“The seven men did not know who Dey was. They were provided his description and the number of his motorcycle by (Chhota) Rajan. They were also told where he could be spotted on a daily basis. This begs the important question… how many people would know Dey’s motorcycle number? It is not too difficult to figure out where his workplace would be,but the accused were also told that he would be spotted near the R Mall turn in Hiranandani area in Powai,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy. “Dey would be spotted at that turn whether he was on his way to office or home. Somebody knew his regular movements,” said Roy.

With no easy clues available to investigators,and with leads running cold,the Mumbai Police went back to basics to identify the perpetrators behind the murder. “We looked for criminals we knew were shooters on our records,and checked their locations. Around 150 shooters were screened,and some of them were found to be missing. This narrowed down our search,” said Roy.

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The Crime Branch’s probe into Dey’s murder had gained momentum recently after it managed to gain access to his e-mail account and managed to glean some vital leads from over 3,000 e-mails.

According to Roy,the sketch that had been prepared from descriptions provided by a witness resembles Amin Dake,one of the seven accused,to a degree. The three motorcycles involved in the offence were arranged by the accused from friends and acquaintances.