Chhota Rajan, eight others get life imprisonment
BY MPOST BUREAU2 May 2018 11:47 PM IST
MPOST BUREAU3 May 2018 5:18 AM IST
MUMBAI: A special MCOCA court on Wednesday sentenced gangster Chhota Rajan and eight others to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist J Dey in June 2011. The court acquitted journalist Jigna Vora and Paulson Joseph, who had been a SIM card provider. All accused except Deepak Sisodia will also pay a fine of Rs 26 lakh each.
Rajan was earlier held guilty of conspiracy and murder and under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). He attended the court via a video conferencing facility from Delhi.
The prosecutor Pradeep Gharat did not seek death sentence for the convicts. He left it to the discretion of the court keeping in mind the seriousness of the crime as it was an attack on the fourth pillar of democracy. The contractors were hired for execution of conspiracy and the victim had a mother and a completely dependent sister. Dey's mother already died and the court should consider grant of compensation for sister.
Dey (51) was gunned down in Powai, allegedly at the behest of don Chhota Rajan.
Besides Rajan, who was extradited to India in December 2015, 10 others faced trial in the case. Journalist Jigna Vora, one of the accused, was suspected of having passed on Dey's information to the gangster.
Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said 155 witnesses deposed, of which seven were declared hostile after they did not support the prosecution's case. Key witnesses, Gharat said, were journalists to whom Rajan spoke after the murder. Gharat termed them "extra judicial confessions" and said Rajan had expressed to a journalist his regret about the murder. "The confessions of three accused—Arun Dake, Deepak Sisodia and Joseph Paulson—before the DCP were also important pieces of evidence," he added.
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