Four days after veteran crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey was shot dead in broad daylight, the police on Wednesday picked up two persons in connection with the case. But no arrests were made till the time of going to press.
The two persons reportedly picked up are Mateen from Mumbra and Anwar from Pune. The police also reportedly recovered a motorcycle that the killers had used.
Without going into detail on the investigations into the murder, joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy said: “Yes, we picked up two persons and are questioning them.”
The two men are believed to belong to the Chhota Shakeel gang. Shakeel, however, called up several TV channels to deny any role in Dey’s killing.
There is speculation here, which sources claimed could well be disinformation spread by the police, that investigators are working on the theory that the sandalwood mafia had orchestrated Dey’s killing: he is learnt to have rejected the mafia’s offer of money to not go ahead with stories against them. There was no confirmation or denial of this by the police, which led to further questionmarks on the investigation’s progress. Interestingly, many police officers too appeared sceptical about this sandalwood mafia theory.