2 held in scribe murder case
Source: The Sangai Express / AAA Ali (TNN)
Mumbai, June 15 2011:
The Mumbai police on Wednesday claimed to have solved the sensational murder of Mid Day journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, who was shot dead in broad daylight by four motorbike-borne assailants at Powai on June 11 .
The Powai police in a joint operation with the crime branch is reported have arrested two shooters identified as Iqbal Hatela and Mateen.
The shooters are believed to be members of Chhota Shakeel gang.
Sources said that they are looking for two more shooters and a sandalwood smuggler, Jaffer Kasim, who lives in Dubai.
Kasim is said to be a business partner of fugitive gangster Shakeel, who is said to be the right hand man of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Police investigation into the murder case reportedly found that Dey's source had given him a story on sandalwood smuggling and he was planning to write about it soon.
Jyotirmoy Dey (56), editor (special investigation), with Mid Day, was known for his extensive reporting of underworld and crime for over two decades.
"The source who brought the story to Dey informed Kasim and his associates that he was likely to carry a story and started bargaining with them.
A middleman of Kasim then offered the informer Rs 10 lakhs.
Dey refused to accept the money which irked Kasim.
When Dey told him that he was going ahead with the story, Kasim threatened him," said an officer.
"It was at that point that Kasim ordered his killing," he said.
The police said that Iqbal was also involved in three robbery cases and had killed Rais Kashmiri in 2000 on behest of Chhota Shakeel.