Chhota Rajan denies Dey murder charge; blames Dawood for false cases

Mumbai, Jan 29: Deported gangster Chhota Rajan told a court here that fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, police and politicians had colluded to get false cases registered against him.

The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, which is conducting the trial in journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case, today recorded Rajan's statement under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Under the section, an accused can personally explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him. Rajan, accused of having the senior crime journalist killed in 2011, is lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail. Speaking through a video link, he told the court that when he was part of Dawood Ibrahim's gang (till 1993), not a single case was registered against him. "Later, police, politicians and Dawood connived to frame me in false cases," he said.

The accused denied that he had got Dey killed because the journalist was defaming him through his articles. "It is false (to say) that I killed Dey," Rajan said in Marathi. When the special judge S S Adkar asked him why witnesses were deposing against him, Rajan said they were doing so at the behest of police. "I have been implicated. There are so many cases against me that I do not know what case is what now," he said.

After the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, I parted ways with the Dawood Ibrahim gang and subsequently gave some information to the Indian intelligence agencies which came to Dawood's knowledge, Rajan alleged.

Afterwards, I was named (by police) in every case and implicated in cases of fake encounters wherein I did not even know the victims, he alleged. Final arguments in the Dey murder case are likely to begin from January 31. To most of the questions put by the court today, Rajan said, "I do not know". Dey, who wrote under the name 'J Dey', was shot dead in Powai area of Mumbai on June 11, 2011.

The court had on August 31, 2017 framed charges against Rajan. According to the CBI charge sheet, Rajan was miffed with some articles written by Dey, and also because of a planned book by the scribe which reportedly portrayed the gangster as a 'chindi' (petty) criminal. Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25, 2015 and deported to India.

PTI