J Dey murder case: Journalist witness declared hostile
J Dey, a crime and investigation editor for a daily in Mumbai, was shot dead by motorcycle-borne sharpshooters on June 11, 2011.
In the ongoing journalist J Dey murder trial, so far 36 witnesses have been examined by prosecution but on Wednesday a witness was declared hostile by the special MCOCA court.
A senior journalist working with a national daily was declared hostile on Wednesday after he refused to say that accused Satish Kaliya had said anything outside the court on his first remand after arrest.
Kalia was the one who shot at Dey in 2011, while his accomplice stood beside him. In the Dey murder case, extradited gangster Chotta Rajan is also an accused and that is why this case was handed over to the CBI in 2015.
Developments in the case:
1. In his statement earlier, the journalist had said that when Kalia was brought for remand at Killa court, he said to journalists there that had he known Dey was a journalist, he would not have killed him. However, the witness journalist refused to accept in court that he was present in court at that time.
2. Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, who examined the witness journalist, said, "I asked the journalist as to why he was moving away from his statement given before the CBI. He said that he was surrounded by the CBI officers, so he did not know what to say. So, I told him that you were not frightened then but you are frightened now before criminals in the court."
3. However, the journalist later issued a statement saying that when he gave his statement to the CBI, the officer wrote it down in short hand, did not show it to him and twisted it according to their convenience.
4. J Dey, a crime and investigation editor for a daily in Mumbai, was shot dead by motorcycle-borne sharpshooters on June 11, 2011.
5. In the murder case, 10 accused are facing the trial including journalist Jitna Vora, who is currently out on bail.