Court rejects bail plea of Rajan aide in J Dey murder case

The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Thursday rejected the bail application of Paulson Joseph, an alleged Chota Rajan aide, arrested in connection with the murder of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.

According to the police, Paulson had supplied mobile SIM cards to the shooters who were in touch with Rajan by phone.

Paulson, in his now retracted confession, had said that journalist Jigna Vora -- a co-accused -- had contacted him few months before the murder, and asked him to help her in getting in touch with Rajan. He had also said that later Rajan and Vora started communicating directly.

The court granted bail to Vora on July 27. She is accused of passing some information such as the registration number of Dey's motorcycle and his address to Rajan, prior to the murder.

According to police, Rajan, upset with two articles written by Dey, ordered the killing. Dey was shot dead in suburban Powai on June 11, 2011.

The sessions court had, on July 18, granted bail to Paulson in the case of firing outside the house of Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Kaskar's bodyguard-cum-driver was killed in the firing.