J Dey Murder: Police still clueless on sixth day

Mumbai: Almost a week after the murder of senior crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey, city police still continue to be groping in the dark as no substantial clue has been found in connection with the sensational killing.

"We do not have anything much to say as far as the investigation (into the murder) is concerned," Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) Deven Bharti told reporters.

Talking on the reconstruction of sequence of events that led to the murder, Bharti said that they could get "little clearer picture" as to what had happened on that day.

"We are looking into various angles in the murder case, including personal or property angles, which might have led to his killing. We are also checking if the oil mafia had any role in the case," Bharti said.

Dey had been on a foreign trip for a fortnight from April 20 this year, during which, he had visited England, Ireland and Switzerland.

"We are also verifying if he also visited Germany. The trip appears to be personal and Dey had travelled alone. He did not share much detail with his family members on the tour," Bharti said, adding "prima facie, it appears to be pleasure trips."

56-year-old Dey, Editor (Special Investigation), with 'Mid-Day', who extensively covered underworld and crime for over two decades, was shot dead by four motorbike-borne assailants last Saturday.

Minutes before Dey's killing, the journalist had couriered visa documents and photocopies of his passport to Philippines tourism marketing office in Delhi.

"Maybe, he planned to visit this place (Philippines)," he said.

Meanwhile Anwar and Mateen Iqbal Hatela, who had been detained and let off on Wednesday and believed to be associated with gangster Chhota Shakeel, were questioned today again, police said.

"Mateen had earlier claimed that he killed Dey at the behest of Anwar, who gave the contract killing. Mateen had also claimed that one Raja D Salvi, who has a criminal background, was with him while executing the crime," Bharti said.

Mateen stated that Raja, who is from Pune, and he himself were on the two bikes along with two others, whom he did not know, while Anwar was in a car at the time of executing the crime, he said.

"But Mateen's claims did not match with the facts after our verification. Now, we wanted to know why Mateen stated all these things and wanted to mislead the investigations," the official said.

"Due to the high level of secrecy maintained by Dey, we are facing some obstructions on the probe."