Journalist shot on street in UP ‘gundaraj’ - Family alleges police collusion

Vikram Joshi.

Piyush Srivastava   |   TT   |   Lucknow   |    23.07.20  :  A journalist shot  at on a Ghaziabad street on Monday night died at a hospital on Wednesday, his family accusing police of colluding with the accused and senior politicians questioning the law-and-order situation in Uttar Pradesh.

Vikram Joshi, 36, who worked for a local newspaper, was dragged off his motorbike and beaten by a dozen people before being shot in front of his young daughters, who were riding pillion.

This was apparently revenge for Vikram lodging a complaint with the local Vijay Nagar police station against them on July 16 for allegedly molesting a relative.

As news of the journalist’s death spread, a large number of his friends and colleagues staged a dharna outside the hospital, demanding an inquiry.

A woman from Vikram’s family alleged that instead of acting against the alleged molesters, local policemen including the Vijay Nagar OC had alerted the accused and provoked them to kill the journalist.

“Some people used to misbehave with daughters of the family and molest them every day. The police motivated the killers to ‘punish’ him (Vikram). The local police and the station house officer were directly involved in the crime,” she alleged, declining to give her name.

Family members of Vikram stage a protest demanding justice for him in Ghaziabad on Wednesday .

Family members of Vikram stage a protest demanding justice for him in Ghaziabad on Wednesday .

PTI

Inspector-general of police (Meerut Range) Praveen Kumar, who arrived at the hospital after Vikram’s death, said nine accused had been arrested.

“We have recovered the pistol used in the crime. We have suspended Raghvendra Singh, the officer in charge of the local police station, on the charge of dereliction of duty,” he said.

This latest indication of police-criminal collusion in Uttar Pradesh comes days after Kanpur gangster Vikas Dubey’s massacre of eight cops — aided by a tip-off from within the police — exposed how the law-keepers patronised criminals in their areas.

Those arrested are Shahnoor Mansuri alias Chhotu, Ravi Kumar, Mohit Singh, Dalveer Singh, Yogendra Kumar, Abhishek Saroj, Abhishek Janwal, Akash Nath and Mohammad Shakir. The police are looking for three others.

Among those who reacted with horror were Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“My heartfelt condolences to the family of Vikram Joshi, a fearless journalist who passed away today. He was shot in UP for filing an FIR to book his niece’s molesters,” Mamata tweeted.

“An atmosphere of fear has been created in the country. Voices being muzzled. Media not spared. Shocking.”

Rahul tweeted: “Vikram Joshi, a journalist, was killed when he opposed the molestation of his niece. Here is my condolence to the aggrieved family.”

He added: “There was a promise of Ram Rajya, but you gave gundaraj.”

The BJP had promised “Ram Rajya” or good governance while campaigning for the 2017 Assembly elections, and chief minister Adityanath has repeatedly claimed to have restored the rule of law in the state.

Footage from a roadside CCTV camera, circulated on social media and beamed on TV, shows the attackers stopping Vikram, thrashing him and shooting him in the head before fleeing on their motorcycles. It all happens in front of his daughters, aged 11 and 7.

“The government has decided to give Rs 10 lakh to Vikram’s wife and a job to her in accordance with her qualification,” Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said.

“The government will also bear the cost of his children’s education.”