Mumbai police said on Thursday that they were investigating alleged diesel mafia kingpin Mohammed Ali in connection with the murder of senior journalist J. Dey.
Mohammed Ali, who is presently being treated at the Nair Hospital, is in judicial custody on charges of being involved in an organised crime syndicate.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy told reporters here that a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act granted the Crime Branch permission to interrogate Mohammed Ali on Wednesday.
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“We interrogated him on Thursday. There is an obvious possibility of a motive [to eliminate someone who wrote about diesel smuggling],” Mumbai Commissioner of Police Arup Patnaik said.
Mr. Roy said they had considered all possible motives. “We are examining them all and trying to eliminate them one by one.” On the possibility of red sandalwood smugglers being involved in the killing, Mr. Patnaik said the police had not ruled out anything. He denied that Jafar Kasim's name popped up during the investigation.