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A special court on Saturday rejected an application by journalist Jigna Vora, arrested in connection with the murder of senior scribe Jyotirmoy Dey, seeking to direct the media to quote sources of their information while publishing stories regarding the crime.
"The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act court has rejected the application as no case of defamation could be made out. The judge observed that no order can be passed against the media as it (media) is not a party," said Special Public Prosecutor Dileep Shah.
Vora, deputy bureau chief of English daily 'Asian Age', was arrested on November 25 under MCOCA on charges of sharing key information about the slain journalist to underworld don Chhota Rajan.
The Crime Branch on December 3 had filed a chargesheet against the arrested accused, namely Rohee Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia.
According to the police, the don was allegedly upset with two articles written by the 56-year-old scribe which purportedly portrayed him in a bad light. By murdering Dey, he wanted to send a message to the media that those who write against him would be targeted.
Jigna allegedly instigated Rajan to kill Dey, apparently due to professional rivalry, according to the 3,055-page charge-sheet.
A supplementary charge-sheet would be filed at a later date against Vora, the eleventh arrested accused in the case, said the police.