Mumbai:
A special court on Thursday rejected the police plea to conduct narco-analysis test on journalist Jigna Vora, arrested in connection with the murder of crime reporter J Dey, but extended her police custody till December 5. Jigna Vora who is Deputy Bureau chief of English daily
The Asian Age, was arrested on November 25.
Public Prosecutor Dileep Shah sought an eight-day extension for the remand of Vora, saying she had sold her mobile phone and police want to find out who the purchaser was. Her cellphone details are also needed to be retrieved.
However, Special Judge at the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court granted only four-day remand extension of the woman scribe.
The police also sought permission to conduct narco-analysis test on the journalist as part of their probe into the sensational murder, in which 10 members of the Chhota Rajan gang have already been arrested.
Vora, the eleventh accused, is suspected to have provided vital information about Dey, working with English tabloid Mid-Day, to the gang members. Dey was shot dead in suburban Powai on June 11.
However, Vora's lawyer argued that her client has expressed an unwillingness to undergo the test following which the court rejected the police plea.
An accused cannot be subjected to a narco test without his/her consent as it amounted to testimonial compulsion and violated Articles 20 (3) and 21 of the Constitution, he said.
In a related development, the court granted till Monday the police custody of another arrested accused Paulson Joseph, an alleged aide of underworld don Chhota Rajan, currently lodged in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.
The custody was granted after the prosecution stated that the police wanted to confront Vora and Joseph.
Joseph had allegedly provided global SIM cards to the accused involved in the murder of Dey as well as a firing case in May. The cards were procured from Dubai, police said.
Before being apprehended in Dey's case, Joseph was held in the May 17 firing at Pakmodia street here in which Arif Syed Abu Bukha, bodyguard-cum-driver of Iqbal Kaskar, brother of Dawood Ibrahim, was killed.