J Dey murder trial: Prosecution in a fix as witnesses in Mumbai fail to show up

Absence of witnesses makes establishing assailants’ identity tough

The prosecution’s case against Chhota Rajan and his henchmen for allegedly killing journalist J Dey is facing a touch challenge in both establishing the motive behind the killing and the identity of the assailants. Reason: key witnesses have not turned up in court.

On June 11, 2011, allegedly at the behest of underworld don Chhota Rajan, journalist J Dey, who was on his way to his home in Powai to meet his wife for lunch, was shot by assailants on a bike. (HT File Photo)

The prosecution has not been able to secure the presence of an eye witness — a watchman — present at the spot where Dey was murdered. The witness had identified the killers at the time of test identification parade. He had also said he was threatened by people claiming association with the gang. He was also provided with police protection, but sources claimed that he failed to appear and depose before the court out of fear.

The prosecution will now heavily rely on call data records of the four alleged killers and also the CCTV footages, in which the bikes the killers used were captured. Since the images were blur, the prosecution had examined an expert from the US who helped the CBI identify the numbers of the bikes from the CCTV footages.

However, the prosecution claimed that the gangster, through various media interviews, has admitted to having ordered to kill the senior journalist. Also, the prosecution has been relying on reports of voice samples collected from Rajan that matched with the interview tapes.

However, the prosecution had not examined Rajendra Singh, the officer of a forensic lab who authored the reports. On the request of defense lawyers, the officer has been called as a court witness. However, Singh after several reminders failed to show up in court on Thursday. Singh had conveyed to the court that he can come for deposition only in February. Refusing to accept his contention, the special CBI court on Thursday issued a bailable warrant against him.

Meanwhile, the prosecution has not been able to bring a witness — a friend of Dey’s who was supposed to publish his book. The prosecution has claimed that the said witness is under arrest for the charge of hatching a conspiracy to kill a former colleague with the Bangalore police.

The prosecution has already closed its case stating, no further witnesses would be brought from their side. It now has a tough task to connect dots and prove the guilt of the accused because many of the witnesses have not supported its claim.