Observing that there is no specific allegation to establish that the city police has links with the underworld,the Bombay High Court dismissed a bunch of petitions seeking CBI probe into the murder of senior crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey. "The allegations that since Dey has written several investigative stories regarding alleged nexus between police and the underworld and hence Mumbai police will not conduct an impartial investigation is extremely general in nature. No particulars about the alleged underworld connection are disclosed," Justices Ranjana Desai and R V More observed. The petitions seeking CBI probe had been filed in public interest by advocate V P Patil,Mumbai Press Club,Marathi Patrakar Parishad and former scribes S Balakrishna and Ketan Tirodkar. The Crime Branch is currently investigating the case. "There is nothing to even prima facie establish that the police officers investigating Dey's murder have links with underworld. In the absence of any material on record substantiating the allegations,it is difficult to hold that this is an exceptional case warranting transfer to CBI," the bench remarked. Reacting to the order,Gurbir Singh,President of Press Club,said,"We are disappointed that our petition has been dismissed. Unfortunately,the circumstances remain largely the same -police has caught a couple of small fries and have no idea why and who masterminded the killing. In the interest of J Dey,we would appeal in the Supreme Court."
