Cops examining journalist J Dey's laptop

The Mumbai Police, probing into the murder of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, is examining the laptop, a hard disk and some important documents recovered from the residence of the slain Mid-Day journalist.

"We have some important leads in the case. We have taken Dey's laptop, hard disk and certain documents from his residence in Powai. Examination of these articles would help us in investigations," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.

Preliminary investigations by the crime branch have revealed that the assailants may have been hired from outside the city and Dey's recent articles on oil mafia might be the immediate trigger behind the murder, he said.

Dey (56), Editor (Special Investigation), Mid-Day, was shot dead on Saturday by four unidentified people while he was riding his bike in suburban Powai.

Using violence to silence the press. Your say! 

"We are probing the incident from all angles. But our line of investigation is going towards checking the possible involvement of people associated with the oil mafia. The journalist had extensively written on oil mafia, which may have triggered them to eliminate him," said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Dey had extensively covered crime and underworld over the last two decades.

Dey was cremated on Sunday at suburban Ghatkopar amid presence of politicians and a large number of media persons who had turned up to pay their last respects to the senior journalist.

At noon on Monday, the Journalists Association is holding a protest rally from the Press Club to the State Secretariat to condemn Dey's killing and mount pressure on the government to expedite the probe in the case and nab the culprits, ahead of meeting Chavan.

The Association has also demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil and suspension of Mumbai police chief Arup Patnaik, owning moral responsibility for the incident