Mumbai
 
Citing ''strong'' circumstantial, electronic and testimonial evidences, Mumbai police today filed a charge sheet against Jigna Vora for her alleged role in the murder of fellow journalist J Dey, calling her an ''instigator'', three months after her arrest.
   
In the 1471-page supplementary charge sheet, the crime branch charged Vora under the tough provisions of MCOCA, various sections of IPC like murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, and the Arms Act. The filing of the charge sheet coincided with Vora's birthday.
   
The charge sheet incorporates statements of 27 witnesses, including those of three persons recorded under section 164 CrPC before a metropolitan or judicial magistrate which can be used even if the witness turns hostile during trial.
   
''Our evidence suggests that the conspiracy was hatched some time back in 2010 in the backdrop of slain gangster Farid Tanasha. We are attempting to show (in the charge sheet) that enmity or ill-will between Dey and Vora started with some episodes related to Tanasha,'' Joint Police Commissioner Himanshu Roy said giving out details of the charge sheet.
   
Roy said that Vora, who has been accused of supplying licence plate number of Dey's motorcycle and address to fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan, was aware of the outcome.
   
Dey, a senior editor with a tabloid MiD Day, was shot dead on June 11 last year in suburban Powai. Vora, Deputy Chief of Bureau of Asian Age, was arrested on November 25 and has been in jail since then.
   
Dey was claimed to have been shot dead on the orders of Rajan, who allegedly gave Rs 5 lakh to the accused for the contract killing. Police claimed professional rivalry was the reason for Dey's murder.
   
The accused against whom charge sheet had been filed last December were 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. All of them are in custody under MCOCA charges. Rajan and his aide Nayan Singh Bisht were shown as absconding.

Citing examples that reflected professional rivalry between Vora and Dey, the joint commissioner of police said that on May 19 last year, Dey had published an article stating that mob boss Dawood Ibrahim had left Pakistan.
   
''We have evidence that on May 25, Vora telephoned Rajan to verify if Dawood had left Pakistan. Subsequently on May 26, she had written a story falsifying Dey's news story,'' he said, adding that all these details have been elaborated in the charge sheet.
   
''Rajan had told Paulson (an accused in the case) to get global roaming SIM cards in March 2011 which were used in the crime,'' Roy said and added that Dey was in London between April 20 and May 6, 2011 and had asked Rajan to meet him there which the gangster suspected was a trap to eliminate him.
   
''There were at least 30 telephone conversations between Rajan and Vora between the month of May and June before the
murder. We have attached those details,'' Roy said.
   
''On 30th May, Dey published an article saying Rajan has become old and his gang has weakened. Around this time, there were several calls between Jigna and co-accused Paulson. The phone calls graph analysis indicates her ill intentions,'' he added.
   
''We have evidence that she had spoken ill about Dey to gangsters and Rajan had taken her name while speaking to others saying how Vora had instigated him which subsequently resulted in the killing of Dey,'' Roy said.
   
According to the charge sheet, the professional enmity between Dey and Vora escalated soon after the murder of Rajan's close aide Farid Tanasha, who was shot dead at his residence in suburban Chembur on June 2, 2010.