A supplementary chargesheet was filed against Dawood Ibrahim's former right hand man, notorious underworld gangster Chhota Rajan, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a special MCOCA court on Friday.
The chargesheet filed under various sections of MCOCA such as Arms Act and Bombay police Act was in connection with the murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, who the CBI claim, was killed at the behest of Chhota Rajan who wanted to prevent the journalist from writing a book on the underworld.
Jyotirmoy Dey, a crime journalist who had worked with Hindustan Times and the Indian Express, was shot dead by four motorcycle-borne gunmen on June 11, 2011. The first chargesheet filed 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).
Around 41 witnesses have since made statements that have been recorded by the CBI. To protect the identity of the witnesses, their names will be deleted from statements before the chargesheet is handed over.
The CBI, in its chargesheet, named another accused today, Ravi Ram Rateshwar, a resident of Tilak Nagar, who was supposed to have provided 20 global SIM cards to assailants and other accused in the case following orders from Chhota Rajan. He was also part of the conspiracy to kill journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.
The CBI added that the forensic report confirms that the voice samples match with that of scribe Jigna Vora and underworld don Chhota Rajan. Vora, who is currently out on bail, was chargesheeted in 2012 after he was accused of instigating Rajan against Dey owing to her own professional rivalry.
Summing up the case in the previous hearing last month, CBI advocate Bharat Badami had said that there is ample evidence against the accused to show collusion between members of the crime syndicate and how accused Chota Rajan succeeded in eliminating Dey with the help of other accused.
Chotta Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 last year and was subsequently deported to India. He is facing around 70 cases in Maharashtra. He appeared before the court through a video conference from Tihar jail.
The next hearing has been scheduled for August 12.
