Unidentified caller claims Indian Mujahideen killed J Dey

The police investigation into the murder of journalist J Dey took a new twist when an anonymous caller — who claimed to be calling from Yemen - told the police control room that terrorist outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) was responsible for his murder.

According to police sources, the call was received by the control room at around 5:30pm on Saturday. The caller refused to be identified. He said that Dey was killed by IM and the shooters were sourced from Srinagar, Hyderabad and Bihar. He further said that Rs4 lakh were paid to the shooters for carrying out the task. He identified one of the shooter as Mohammed Rafiq.

Police are trying to verify the credibility of the call. The cops are also probing the possibility of the call being hoax or being arranged by the actual accused to mislead the investigation. Why a terrorist organisation would target a journalist whose forte was underworld beats the police, who are investigating the purpose of Dey’s foreign visits and who all he met there.

IM, a terrorist outfit, has been responsible for several bomb blasts across the country over the past five years. Intelligence agencies believe that IM comprises activists by banned outfits like Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami.

Dey, the investigative head of city tabloid Mid-Day, was killed last Saturday by four assailants when he was travelling his from his mother’s place in Ghatkopar to his home in Powai. The police have questioned more then 180 people in the case and have undertaken the case on priority basis.