A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Friday granted CBI further time to investigate the role of gangster Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan in senior journalist J. Dey’s murder. It also sought a reply from his lawyer on the investigating agency’s request to get Rajan’s voice sample to compare it with a intercepted telephonic conversation already available with the court.
Judge S.S. Adkar has been appointed as a special judge to conduct the trial in J. Dey murder case and during the hearing, the CBI filed an application that also sought the mobile phone of the deceased journalist because it has not been sent to forensic science laboratory for examination yet. “The forensic examination of aforesaid handset for retrieving its data and other information such as missed call, dialled call, in/out SMS, video clips, WhatsApp messages and e-mails etc. is very crucial for the investigation of this case,” stated the application filed by CBI.
Apart from mobile phone, the agency has also sought two laptops and one computer hard disk of Dey stating they want to analyse it. The CBI is seeking these articles from the court because the Mumbai police has already submitted them to the court along with a chargesheet filed against other accused in the case.
“The soft copy of the information stored in the hard disk is urgently required by the CBI for further investigation and for bringing the investigation to its logical end,” the application added.
In respect to collection of the voice sample, CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami told the judge that on January 29, Rajan had consented to give his voice sample but when officers went to take sample he refused to give his voice sample for comparison with the questioned voice recording available in the said case. According to CBI, a CD available with court has intercepted telephonic conversation between one of the accused in this case and another person’s voice, believed to be of Rajan, so they want to compare the voices.
The CBI has sought further time to complete the investigation stating they need to take help of some external agencies like Interpol to investigate the case against Rajan as he was out of the country for most of the time.
After hearing arguments, the judge directed Rajan’s lawyer Anshuman Sinha to file his reply and posted the matter for hearing on February 11.
