Jyotirmoy Dey ( bn, জ্যোতির্ময় দে; 1955 – 11 June 2011), also known as Jyotendra Dey, Commander J, and J Dey, was an Indian journalist, crime and investigations editor for ''

Mid-Day ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions wer ...

'' (a tabloid newspaper published in several cities in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

) and an expert on the

Mumbai underworld Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is d ...

. He was shot to death by motorcycle-borne sharpshooters on 11 June 2011.

Career

Dey started his career with Hindustan Times. A

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

enthusiast, he first started writing on forest encroachment and the man-animal conflict in

Borivali National Park Borivali (Pronunciation: oːɾiʋəliː is a suburb and is located at the north-western end of Mumbai and has a large Gujarati population followed by others. Traditionally the tribals and East Indians lived in Borivali. The attractions incl ...

. A story about government departments taking away land in the reserved national park created a furore in the state legislature. He started his journalistic career as a freelancer with Afternoon Despatch and Courier writing about crime in the wildlife areas. He also dabbled in photojournalism. He then started free lancing for

before joining them full-time. He joined

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

in 1996 and soon switched to covering crime stories, especially on Mumbai underworld. In 2005, he joined

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

. He later re-joined MiD Day as crime and investigations editor. Dey had authored two books on underworld activities, ''Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers'' and ''Khallas''. He has done many reports on underworld dons

Dawood Ibrahim Dawood Ibrahim (; born 26 December 1955) is an Indian mafia gangster, drug kingpin, and wanted terrorist from Dongri, Mumbai. He reportedly heads the Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. Ibrahim ...

and Chhota Rajan.

Personal life

Dey was born in 1955,

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

to Mrs. Bina Dey. He was married to a journalist named Shubha Sharma and was survived by them (wife & mother).

Death

Dey was returning to his home on his motorcycle from

Ghatkopar Ghatkopar (Pronunciation: �ʱaːʈkopəɾ is a suburb in eastern Mumbai. The area is served by the railway station on the Central Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway and the metro station on Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro. History Ghatkopar in ...

after meeting his mother Bina on 11 June 2011. Around 3 PM of the same day, four unidentified men on motorcycles opened fire on him at

Hiranandani Gardens Hiranandani Gardens (known popularly as Hiranandani) is an upmarket township consisting of condominiums, penthouses, bungalows and commercial complexes in Powai in the city of Mumbai. Hiranandani was constructed by the Hiranandani Group and ca ...

Powai Powai (Pronunciation: əʋəiː is an upscale residential neighbourhood located in central Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is situated on the banks of Powai Lake, and is bound by the hills of Vikhroli Parksite to the south-east, Chandivali ...

. He was taken to Powai Hospital, but they did not have the proper facilities to attend to him. Dey was later rushed to Hiranandani hospital. He was reported dead on arrival at the Hiranandani Hospital, with nine exit wounds on his body. Mumbai Police speculated the murder was a professional job, and may be related to his reporting on the oil mafia. The oil mafia, which pilfers oil being transported and also dilutes it before sale, has been under pressure since the killing of Yashwant Sonawane in January 2011. Dey had also recently reported that Chhota Rajan was the mastermind behind a recent shooting involving

’s brother Iqbal Kaskar in Mumbai. The murder was widely denounced by the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

and the local government.

Police investigation

The investigation of Dey's murder was handed over to the Crime Branch department of Mumbai Police. Media persons from across different sections demanded that the investigations should be handed over to the CBI. Several media persons met the state's chief minister,

Prithviraj Chavan Prithviraj Chavan () (born 17 March 1946) is an Indian politician who was the 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a state in Western India. Chavan is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and University of Cali ...

, to put forth their demand of handing over the case to the CBI. The chief minister remained adamant that the integrity of Mumbai Police should not be underestimated and the police should be given time to crack the case. On 27 June 2011, after sixteen days of investigations, the Crime Branch declared they have cracked the case. Police officials caught seven people from different locations of India. Of which three were detained from

Chembur Chembur (pronunciation: ͡ʃembuːɾ is an upmarket large suburb in central Mumbai, India. History Before reclamation, Chembur lay on the north-western corner of Trombay Island. It is suggested that Chembur is the same place referred to as Sa ...

, in Mumbai; one in

Solapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with a branch lin ...

; and remaining two from

Rameshwaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kil ...

, in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. All the suspects resided in different parts of Mumbai except Satish Kalia, who settled down in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populatio ...

after the birth of his daughter and cases against him were cleared. After the shootout they fled to evade arrest. All the seven suspects Rohit Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalia, Arun Dake, Anil Waghmode, Babloo, Sachin Gaikwad, Mangesh Agawane and Chhottu are history-sheeters. The suspects were allegedly from Chhota Rajan's gang "NANA COMPANY".

Additional Commissioner of Police A Deputy Inspector General of Police (abbreviated as DIG) is a high-ranking official position in Police in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. India Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) is a rank ...

(crime) Himanshu Roy, who was supervising the case said in a press conference that Rajan approached Kalia who in turn organised the team to carry the shootout. Kalia was the man who shot Dey, said the police. The commissioner also added the shootout was carried out on the behest of Rajan, and the shooters were allegedly kept in dark about the profession of Dey. On 21 February 2012, Mumbai Crime Branch chargesheeted journalist Jigna Vora (Deputy Chief of Bureau of

Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

) under stringent provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and various other penal offences for her alleged role in the sensational murder. Besides the stringent provisions of MCOCA and the Arms Act she has also been charged under various sections of IPC including criminal conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence. Jigna Vora had been under the Mumbai police's radar since 4 July 2011 after the police intercepted a conversation between Manoj, brother of Vinod Asrani, who has also been arrested and the gangster Chhota Rajan. The police alleged that Vora had supplied address and licence plate number of Dey's motorcycle to Chhota Rajan. Police claimed Vora's professional

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

was the reason for Dey's murder. On 27 July 2012, Jigna Vora was granted bail by a special court reasoning that she has a child to look after and is a single parent and that she had no previous

criminal record A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...

Notes

References