A special MCOCA court today framed charges against gangster Chhota Rajan in the journalist J Dey murder case, nearly eleven months after he was deported to India.
"The court has framed charges against Rajan under various charges of MCOCA; section 302 (murder) and 120-b (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code," said a CBI official.
After Special Judge Samir Adkar explained the charges to Rajan, he pleaded not guilty. The court then posted the matter for September 7.
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The framing of charges against Rajan paves the way for the trial, five years after the veteran investigative journalist was shot dead in suburban Powai in 2011.
Rajan, currently lodged at high-security Tihar jail, was produced before the judge through video-conference.
Earlier this month on August 5, the central probe agency had filed a supplementary charge sheet against the gangster claiming that he had the journalist murdered because Dey's articles and a planned book portrayed Rajan as 'chindi' (a small fry).
The chargesheet stated that Rajan thought that Dey was working for his arch rival and underworld fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim and the ISI.
According to the CBI, Rajan told one Manoj on phone that journalist Jigna Vora, a co-accused in the case, used to tell him "repeatedly" that Dey "is writing wrong things and is in touch with the other gang and was a traitor."
Dey's wife told CBI that for a month before his murder, he was very upset and he told her that he was going to die but not due to illness.
Dey had planned a book, titled 'Chindi-Rags to Riches', wherein he was going to write the stories of 20 gangsters with humble origins.
"Dey was going to expose the fake patriotic mask used by
him (Rajan) to secure himself and to accumulate wealth for his family. The book was to have that Rajan had no concern for those who made him big," the charge sheet had said.
The book was also to portray Dawood, Rajan's friend-turned-foe, as being superior to him.
According to the charge sheet, Rajan, who was reportedly hiding in Malaysia, had called Dey for a meeting but the journalist refused, CBI said.
Vora, now on bail, is the one who instigated the murder, CBI said.
Last month, adjourning the hearing in the case, the MCOCA court had said it would go ahead with framing of charges as per the charge sheet earlier filed by Mumbai police's crime branch if the CBI failed to do so by August 5.
However, the agency stepped up and filed a 300-page charge sheet on the day.
Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 last year and deported to India.
He is facing around 70 cases in Maharashtra, all now handed over to CBI.
Dey was shot dead in suburban Powai on June 11, 2011 allegedly at the behest of Rajan.
The first charge sheet filed in the case in 2011 names Satiah Kaliya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia (all arrested).
Another charge sheet was filed against Vora the next year. She is accused of instigating Rajan against Dey owing to her own professional rivalry.
