J Dey killing: Chhota Rajan, 8 others get life imprisonment

Nearly seven years after senior journalist J Dey was shot dead here, a special court today awarded life imprisonment to all the nine convicted, including gangster Chhota Rajan.

MCOCA court judge Sameer Adkar, however, acquitted former journalist Jigna Vora, who was charged with instigating Rajan to carry out the killing in 2011.

The judge also acquitted Paulson Joseph, who was accused of handling the financial operations concerned with the conspiracy.

The court imposed a fine of Rs 26 lakh on each of the convicts.

This is the first major conviction for Rajan since he was deported to India following his arrest at Bali airport in Indonesia in 2015.

Earlier last year, Rajan was convicted by a court in Delhi and sentenced to seven years imprisonment in a case of fake passports.

Dey, 56, was shot by two motorcycle-borne men on June 11, 2011 in suburban Powai when he was on his way to his residence.

At that time, he worked as a senior editor for the tabloid, Mid Day.

According to the prosecution, the killing was carried out at the behest of Rajan, who was purportedly 'unhappy' with the negative reports that Dey had been writing on his health and his diminishing clout in the underworld.

Twelve people were arrested in the case, including Rajan, Satish Joseph alias Satish Kaliya, the shooter, and Vora.

One of the accused, Vinod Asrani, died after prolonged illness in 2015, pending trial.

Vora broke down in the court soon after her acquittal was announced by the judge.

Rajan, who was witnessing proceedings from New Delhi's Tihar jail via video conferencing, said "theek hai" (alright), when the judge read out the sentence and asked the gangster if he wanted to say anything.

The prosecution earlier demanded the maximum punishment for the convicts, saying that J Dey was a journalist, who represented the fourth pillar of democracy.