The police said she knew she would get into trouble and started gifting her mobiles to her friends.
Investigations into journalist J Dey's murder have revealed that arrested accused Jigna Vora spoke about her links with underworld don Chhota Rajan to one of her Facebook friends. She gifted one of her phones to the friend, a resident of Surat, and later asked her to delete details of any conversation with Rajan from the mobile.
Jigna, also a journalist, is suspected of having destroyed evidence against her after she sensed arrest in connection with Dey's murder.
The police said she knew she would get into trouble and started gifting her mobiles to her friends. The crime branch recovered eight mobile phones belonging to Jigna from different people. One of them was her friend from Surat.
The woman told the police that Jigna and she became friends through Facebook. Later, Jigna gifted her Nokia phone to her. The woman's husband refused to accept the gift and insisted on paying money for it. Jigna accepted Rs3,500 in exchange for the phone.
"Jigna SMSed me before her arrest and said she wanted to discuss something important," the woman told the police. "She later called to say that she could be arrested in the J Dey murder case. She asked me to check the memory card of the phone she had given me and said it had some conversations between Chhota Rajan and her."
The worried woman confided in her husband who checked the phone, but found nothing. "I told Jigna there was nothing in the memory card, but she asked me to meet her at Mumbai Central station and return the card," the woman said.
"She was waiting for me in a car outside Mumbai Central station. She just took the memory card and left," the woman told the police.
Jigna's Facebook friend said she came to know about Dey's murder through a vernacular paper in Surat. "I realised the police were searching for her mobile phones and had recovered two from others," the woman said. She then approached the crime branch and handed over the phone given to her by Jigna. The woman is now a prime witness in the case. Apart from charges of murder, the police have also booked Jigna for destruction of evidence.
Jigna was arrested by the crime branch from her mother’s house in Ghatkopar on November 2, 2011. Dey was murdered by motorcycle-borne assailants in Powai on June 11, 2011.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}