Two more witnesses depose, police file statements in court

In what could bolster the Mumbai Police Crime Branch's evidence against arrested journalist Jigna Vora in the J Dey murder case, two more witnesses recorded their statements before a magistrate.

The Crime Branch submitted the statements before the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Monday.

While one of the witness is allegedly a close associate of arrested accused Paulson Joseph, another person who deposed before the magistrate works at The Asian Age newspaper office in Mumbai, where Vora was working as deputy bureau chief.

In all, five witnesses have given their statements to the Magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. These statements are admissible as evidence in court, and cannot be retracted.

Paulson's friend who also allegedly knew gangster Farid Tanasha, who was murdered in 2010, claims in his statement that he knew Vora through Paulson, and that Paulson had mentioned that Vora had been in touch with fugitive underworld don Chhota Rajan.

According to the 3,055-page chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch, Vora had asked Rajan to kill Dey, who worked with Mid Day, due to professional rivalry. The chargesheet has statements of reporters to whom Rajan allegedly spoke to soon after the incident.

One of the two statements submitted by the prosecution on Monday is of a person working in the Human Resources department of The Asian Age newspaper. The witness has claimed that Vora went on leave without any prior application. According to the witness statement, Vora did not make any application even after resuming work. According to the police, Vora had left for Sikkim, just days before Dey's murder.

Meanwhile, the special MCOCA court also adjourned Vora's bail application till May 2. Vora in her bail application claimed that she had no role in the case and that she has been falsely implicated by the police.

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