The Bombay high court on Tuesday reserved its order on a discharge application made by builder Vinod Asrani alias Vinod Chembur, an accused in the murder case of journalist J. Dey.
A division bench of Justices P.V. Hardas and Revati Mohite-Dere was hearing the final arguments in the matter. Asrani’s defense counsel Adhik Shirodkar said that the police had in their possession a recorded telephonic conversation between gangster Chhota Rajan and his associate. According to the conversation, Rajan had said that Asrani was being falsely implicated in the case and that he was not involved. The senior counsel argued that except for Asrani’s confession given to the police, there was no other evidence against him. Mr Shirodkar also denied his client’s involvement in the murder and said it was a fit case for discharge of the accused.
He also said that Asrani’s confession to the police was made under duress and he was neither a member of the Rajan crime syndicate nor was he associated with the Chhota Rajan gang. However, government pleader Ajay Gadkari opposed Asra-ni’s appeal for discharge, stating that he was reportedly involved in the conspiracy to kill Dey who was shot dead on June 11, 2011. He said Satish Kalia had fired bullets at the victim and Asrani had earlier shown Dey to the assailant.