Observing she has a child to look after and is a single parent, a special Court today granted bail to Jigna Vora, held under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for her alleged complicity in the murder of fellow journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.
Special MCOCA court judge S M Modak ordered Vora's release on a surety of Rs one lakh after observing that she had no criminal antecedents. He also noted that the charge sheet had been filed and her custody was no longer required.
Other grounds for granting bail to Vora were that she was unwell due to asthma.
While granting bail, the judge also cited forensicscience laboratory's failure to retrieve details of callsallegedly made by Vora from her mobile phone to underworld donChhota Rajan, who was claimed to have ordered Dey's killing.
The court asked Vora to report to Crime Branch twicea week and deposit her passport with the investigating agencyimmediately. She was also warned not to tamper with evidence.
Claiming innocence, Vora had sought liberty ongrounds of ill health and that she had to look after her minorchild. Vora, deputy chief of bureau of English daily AsianAge, had said she was falsely implicated in the murder of Dey,Editor (Investigations) with city tabloid Mid-Day.
The Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina, said in itsreport to the court on July 23 that data from six hand setsrecovered from Vora could not be fetched as it did not havethe necessary tools.
Police had said that Vora texted SMSes to herfriends, acquaintances and also to the slain journalist duringthe course of her duty and those might throw light on themurder.
Vora was arrested on November 25 last year understringent anti-crime law MCOCA.
According to police, the murder was plotted andexecuted allegedly at the behest of Chhota Rajan whom Vora hadinstigated owing to professional rivalry with Dey.