J Dey murder case: Prosecution begins final arguments against Mumbai gangster Chhota Rajan

The prosecution said that Dey’s books, which depicted Rajan in an unfavourable light while glorifying his rival Dawood Ibrahim, motivated the murder.

The prosecution in the J Dey murder case on Wednesday commenced its final arguments against underworld don Chhota Rajan for his role in the murder of the journalist. The prosecution said that Dey’s books, which depicted Rajan in an unfavourable light while glorifying his rival Dawood Ibrahim, motivated the murder.

Journalist J Dey was shot to death in June 2011. (HT file photo)

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat submitted, "In the book relating to Dawood, Dey was trying to glorify the image of Rajan’s rival, while in the book on Rajan, Dey referred to him as ‘chindi don’ which means a small time offender. Due to this, Rajan felt insulted.”

The journalist was shot by two bikers on June 11 2011 while he was on the way to his residence in Powai. The prosecution claimed that six assailants followed Dey around before shooting him near Powai garden.

The prosecution also claimed, referring to the depositions submitted by Dey’s wife and friend, one of the accused Vinod Asrani alias Vinod Chembur had scheduled a meeting with Dey. “The purpose of the meeting was to help other shooters identify Dey,” he said, adding that the conspiracy had been hatched by Rajan’s organised crime syndicate.

Gharat claimed that his arguments will be based on the confessions of Arun Dhake, one of the shooters, and Polson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia, who aided the execution of the conspiracy. In addition, the prosecution would also rely on telephonic conversations between Rajan and several journalists where the don allegedly confessed to the crime.