'I was labelled a woman from the underworld, a murderer'

It was 1115 am on May 2 this year that the judge inside Room no 57 of the special MCOCA court in Kala Ghoda pronounced Accused No 11 Jigna Vora not guilty Vora 43 a former journalist and one of the prime accused in the murder of senior journalist and middays investigations editor Jyotirmoy Dey in 2011 couldnt fight back the tears The Mumbai police and later CBI had alleged that she had instigated gangster Chhota Rajan into calling for the hit jobIt has been six months since that day Her demeanour is calm as she gets up from a table at a BKC cafeacute and greets us with a hug made awkward only slightly by a tribal mask pendant she wears around her neck We go back 10 years to a time we worked together in the newsroom of national daily The Asian Age I a sub editor she special correspondentJigna VoraHer son and I share our birthdays It was reason to have a common celebration in the four years we were colleagues We had lost touch after her arrestToday weve both ordered cappuccinos She likes hers without sugar A slice of banana chocolate loaf is her only indulgence for the day This Sunday will mark seven years since my life changed forever she says On November 25 2011 Vora was arrested from her Ghatkopar home and booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act MCOCA for her alleged role in the murderDey 56 had been gunned down by four motorcycleborne men at Hiranandani Gardens Powai on the rainsoaked afternoon of June 11 2011 Barely a month into the killing the police claimed to have cracked the case The shooters were said to be fugitive mobster Rajan Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajans henchmen The underworld was back in the game or so it seemed and the most sensational development was that of a woman reporter planning the killing of her ilkJ DeyBut when she was acquitted and the court observed Even the recovery of various mobile phones and SIM cards of Vora and the relevant CDRs fail to connecthellip Vora with the offence in question HencehellipVora has to be acquitted of all the charges against her she had but one question mdash why hadnt anybody bothered to crosscheck the facts Maybe she would have still been a journalist Maybe there would have been another truth mdash one that Vora for the first time in seven years agreed to share today with this paperDo you have questions ready she asks the familiarity of a known territory evident Just pointers we say Chalo then she says Her controversial absence from Mumbai when Dey was murdered which later found a mention in the supplementary chargesheet filed on June 12 2012 is where we start Vora was four days into a vacation with her family in Sikkim when Dey was shot I was having lunch at the hotel and around 315 pm I received a call from my editor Hussain sir former investigative journalist and author Hussain Zaidi He said JV Dey has been killed On May 2 this year Jigna Vora walked out of the special MCOCA court in Kala Ghoda acquitted of all charges in the murder of Jyotirmoy Dey File picSince the hotel was on a mountain top and the network was poor the call got disconnected I rushed to a network zone and called him back Are you sure I asked Sir said the news had been confirmed and asked me to check with Himanshu Roy then Joint Commissioner of Police Crime which hospital they were taking the body to she says Since Zaidi and Dey had been colleagues at The Indian Express he had decided to check on Deys family at the hospital before heading to work Vora informed Zaidi and her bureau chief about the body being at Hiranandani Hospital and rushed back to the hotel room to switch on the television I sat through the coverage the rest of the evening thinking to myself God Who must have done this and whyAt 630 pm Zaidi called again to ask her to file a copy But Roy Voras key police source refused to divulge any information Zaidi told her to drop it and enjoy the rest of her vacation I returned to Mumbai on June 18 as per schedule That very day I went to the Crime Branch and inquired about the investigations she says By then conspiracy theories related to the murder had birthed with Deys death being linked to fugitive drug lord Iqbal Mirchi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Police sources had painted a colourful story around Deys weeklong trip to Europe which he had taken a monthandahalf before his death Vora continued to follow the story and file developments for the newspaper By the end of June when the police arrested the hitmen Vora thought the case was as good as shutOnce while walking through the maze of rooms at Sessions Court Vora had offered me a piece of advice keep an arms length from fellow reporters especially while on abig story We bring it up now and she says Maybe that was wrong advice Every scribe has her or his own rule book to make it through the dogeatdog world of journalism Vora had hers and it meant making few friends within the community I had just one friend a woman reporter It worked against me she says wistfullyIt wasnt that Vora didnt want to make new friends I just didnt have the time The law graduate from DG Ruparel College with a mass communications diploma from KJ Somaiya landed her first job as court reporter at the Free Press Journal She was 30 single and had a fouryearold son My life revolved around him and his around mine she says Her parents and grandparents were her support after she separated from her husbandHer day would begin early with sending her son to school Id pick him up by 1130 am get dressed and leave for court and then rush to work to file my story Id try and return home by 930 pm because my son would not eat without me There was no question of making friends she says I didnt smoke I never drank If I partied it was with college friends My social life was limitedThere were times she took her son to the Crime Branch because there was nowhere to leave him On Sundays I had to take special permission from the city editor to bring him along to work He would sit alone in the reception area of the office and Id quickly file my story In 2009 when her son was eight Vora decided to enroll him in a Panchgani boarding school He was being pampered by my grandparents All I wanted was that he focus on academics and become a good human being she says This decision and being a single mother became an entry point for people to cook up storiesSoon after the police pointed to Rajans involvement in Deys murder the mobster according to a news magazine known for investigative journalism called up several media houses between July 1 and November 16 2011 In interviews he gave he explained the reasons for killing Dey Apart from alleging that Dey was getting close to Dawood Ibrahims gang and the ISI he also claimed that a woman journalist had instigated him to killIn August that year a fellow reporter told Vora that rumours were rife of her having an extramarital affair with Dey and that he had got her pregnant refusing to accept her and the child This was apparently the topic of discussion among reporters at the Press Club I rebuffed him saying Mujhe maloom nahin main kab pregnant hui she saysDey was not around to clarify and so the grapevine flourished Nearly two months later on October 31 things took a turn when a Mumbai tabloid carried an incriminating story about a woman reporter involved in Deys murder While the front page article didnt mention Voras name and relied purely on sources the piece was incriminating enough to point all fingers at her Surprisingly this was a tabloid I had previously worked for This is how they paid me back Not once did they bother to call and ask what I had to say Maybe the story was too irresistible to hold she says After the article was published Zaidi had met the editor of the said tabloid but by then enough damage had been done Exactly 25 days later Vora was arrestedWhen you believe that you are innocent you turn overconfident I think my confidence did me in she says A day prior to the arrest Vora says she went to work and filed her story for the day When I came home I received a message from a former colleague who used to be a senior at The Asian Age asking where I was He was hanging out at the Press Club and said that reporters there had been talking about my arrest I told him Its a rumour I am safe at home Vora who is now working on a book on her life refuses to divulge details of how events unfolded on the day of her arrest But reports from the day after claimed that police sources had referenced recordings of several conversations between Vora and Rajan where she was allegedly heard describing Deys daily activities to Rajan In that days editorial piece for his newspaper Zaidi had defended Vora describing her as a daring and enterprising journalist who was a vulnerable targetVora was remanded to police custody till December 1 after which she was moved to Byculla Womens Jail Newspaper reports speak of 38 transcripts of conversations found between Vora and Rajan In previous interviews Zaidi had said that the interaction between the two in fact unfolded in The Asian Age newsroom and it was for an interview that he decided to publish in his capacity as resident editorThe articles that appeared here on before the chargesheet was filed saw Vora being discussed for her ruthless sense of ambition Another spoke of professional rivalry that emerged over Rajan aide Farid Tanasha which led her to conspire to kill Dey her former colleague and mentor We ask her about this and she quickly clarifies I never worked with Dey and I didnt know him personally so how could he be my mentor or colleague I had no grudge against J Dey I used to meet him at press conferences and our conversations were limited to hello Come on He was 20 years my senior I didnt even follow his stories because he was a hardcore crime reporter and I covered courts If there were differences between us Dey would have mentioned this to Hussain sir as they were close The rivalry they spoke of between her and Dey was the imagination of some good screenplay writersIt was also alleged that Vora had shared Deys motorbike numberplate details with Rajan But there was no proof she argues My email and call records were clear but the media didnt bother verifying the facts They wrote anything they felt likehellipthat I liked visiting spas and wore a lot of gold Yes I liked spa treatments And if I made a salary of over R1 lakh I could afford it once in a while The first chargesheet that was filed in February 2012 had described the role of each accused but did not mention hers The 120page supplementary chargesheet filed in June 2012 again didnt point to professional rivalry but attached an attendance register page from her office citing that Vora had been on leave from June 8 to 18 It was alluded that she deliberately left the city because she was aware of the conspiracyBefore this a broadsheet citing Crime Branch sources claimed that Vora had abruptly booked tickets to Sikkim on June 7 and took off without sanctioned leave She tells us now that the tickets had been booked two months prior and several of her colleagues including Zaidi who had granted the leave were aware of the trip In fact the news magazine that carried out an investigative piece on Deys murder had been given a copy of the ticket she booked on Kingfisher flight IT 3167 from Mumbai to Guwahati at 437 pm on April 7 2011 by a relativeVora says the media witchhunt could be a product of a story too good to let pass There was another reason that some reports mentioned In a beat dominated by male journalists Voras career climb in just six years mdash from court correspondent at 30 to a deputy bureau chief at 37 mdash was unusual People said I had various ways of influencing my sources If you are a single woman and have reached a certain stage professionally it is implied that you have definitelyslept around But Zaidi who witnessed her rise chooses to be critical Jignas overconfidence in her ability to get a good story and her devilmaycare attitude earned her a lot of enemies both within the fraternity and the police This eventually led to her downfall We ask her about this and Vora agrees I was immature and couldnt handle my successVora remained in jail for nine months It was a jailhellip of course it had to be bad But the toughest part about the experience was my having to digest that I was there for doing nothing All through those months there wasnt a single day when I didnt break down she says choking One day when my son visited he said he was praying for me that Id be out That day I decided I was going to be tough for him I was only answerable to him my parents and grandparents Soon after she was granted bail on July 27 2012 Vora lost her grandmother I had too many uncertainties facing me professionally I knew it was difficult to get back to reporting I was scared of coming out of jail because I didnt know how society would look at me I was labelled a woman from the underworld a prime accused and a murderer I wasnt sure how my family would react to my presence she recallsVoras mother passed away on June 9 2015 a day after the MCOCA charges were framed She read the news that morning about my being prime accused Later that day she suffered a heart attack Her sugar levels had suddenly shot upIn those intervening years Vora says it was meditation that kept her going I did a lot of research on chakra meditation and started learning new healing techniques It gave me positivity she saysVora also learnt tarot card reading and now holds sessions professionally alongside taking meditation classes at home and offering private consultancy on healing techniques Everything including loneliness depression and anxiety can be dealt with by balancing the seven chakras or energy centres in your body she says We ask how and she pushes her wrist forward to display the many semiprecious stone bracelets stacked on it They help clean your auraIt was in August 2016 that Vora saw a ray of hope when the third 300page chargesheet barely discussed her role in the crime Most importantly while the chargesheet quoted a journalist saying that Rajan in a telephonic interview told him that Vora had provided him information on Dey the statement did not mention any emails sent by Vora to Rajan with Deys details Evidence was thin I kept telling myself to hold onhellip the truth would be out she says She suffered the biggest blow when she lost her grandfather last year He had stood by her footing her legal bills and visiting her in court When hed come to see me in jail he was old and in his late 80s Theyd keep him waiting all day without water I told him not to invite the humiliation But he would cheer me upOn the day of the judgment Voras legal team was confident shed walk free Two days prior a leading daily had run a front page story about a possible death sentence if I was convicted she recalls That report broke her I told my son theres a possibility I wont come back The media can make someone it can also break someone She jumps back into the present whipping out her phone to show us pictures of her son now 18 and at a hotel management school in PuneHe makes a good model but Ive told him he is there to study Make me proud She is still struggling to make ends meet she says So many people hounded me for an interview after I was acquitted but no one approached me asking Jigna do you want a job Until stability finds her again she is seeking joy in the little things She is researching for a webseries with Zaidi and trying to wrap up the book But nothing will come close to being a journalist I cant forget those days mdash running around hunting for stories struggling to get quotes from cops and lawyers I miss that thrillCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates