A special MCOCA court ordered police protection for four witnesses in the case of killing of journalist J Dey, after one of them claimed that he was threatened by four unidentified persons at his house in the city.
Gangster Chhota Rajan is the prime accused in the 2011 killing of the scribe.
"The court (last week) ordered police protection for four witnesses," special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said today.
The prosecutor had sought police protection under section 19 of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA).
The witnesses will depose before the court in due course. Over 100 witnesses, including Dey's wife, have deposed so far.
Dey, who was working with a city-based English tabloid, was shot dead in suburban Powai on June 11, 2011.
The court on August 31 last year framed charges against Rajan.
As per a supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI, Rajan allegedly had the veteran crime reporter killed because he was miffed over some articles written by him. Rajan was also allegedly angry with the scribe as he believed that Dey has portrayed him as a "chindhi" (petty) criminal in his upcoming book.
The book titled "Chindhi -- Rags to Riches" was about 20 gangsters who rose from humble origins.
Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25, 2015, and deported to India.
The first charge sheet filed in 2011 had named Satish Kaliya, Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia (all arrested) as accused in the case.
A separate charge sheet was filed against local journalist Jigna Vora for allegedly instigating Rajan against Dey due to her professional rivalry with the slain scribe.
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