In a setback to investigations in senior journalist J Dey murder case, a forensic lab on Monday informed a special court that SMSes allegedly deleted by accused fellow scribe Jigna Vora could not be retrieved.
The Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina, said in its report to the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court that data from six hand sets recovered from
Vora could not be fetched as it does not have the necessary tools.
Vora's bail application came up for hearing on Monday and the Court deferred it till July 27.
It is the case of police that Vora had texted SMSes to her friends, acquaintances and also to the slain journalist during the course of her duty and these might throw light on the murder.
The forensic reports of two more handsets, a memory card and laptop belonging to Vora are still awaited, the court was told.
The Crime Branch has also asked Google to fetch information/data which may have been deleted by Vora before her arrest in this case but the internet search engine is yet to respond to the request.
Vora, Deputy Chief of Bureau of a city-based English newspaper was arrested on November 25 last year under MCOCA in connection with the murder of Dey, senior crime reporter with tabloid Mid Day. The murder was plotted and executed allegedly at the behest of the underworld don Chhota Rajan.
Vora is accused of passing on information like the registration number of the slain journalist's motorcycle and his address to the fugitive don. Police have alleged that Vora instigated Chhota Rajan to bump off Dey due to professional rivalry, a charge she has denied.
Rajan had ordered the killing as he was upset with the two articles written by Dey that purportedly portrayed him in "bad" light, police has alleged.
Police had filed the charge sheet in the case on December 3 last year against arrested accused Kalya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia.
A supplementary charge sheet was filed against Vora on June 12.
The Crime branch has attached a page from the attendance register of the newspaper where Jigna was employed. It showed that she was on leave from June 9 to 19, 2011. Dey was killed on June 11.