How Madhya Pradesh police tried to defame a dead journalist and a ‘fearless crusader’
Days after Sandeep Kothari’s burnt body was discovered, the police raked up the old cases against him. That, however, was only half the truth.
Sandeep Kothari’s sister Sandhya is distraught. When he was alive the journalist faced a rash of criminal cases over 10 years which included charges of extortion and sexual assault. Even after his death the Madhya Pradesh police hasn’t let up the campaign to sully him – it publicly branded him a serial offender. “I pleaded with him so many times – leave journalism or you will die,” said Sandhya.
Kothari, 40, was found dead near a railway track in the Butibori forest of Wardha district in Maharashtra on June 20. He was abducted the previous day from Katangi tehsil in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, driven to Maharashtra and then incinerated. The police has arrested two men – Vishal Tandi and Brijesh Duhrawal – and are searching for the main accused, Rakesh Narswani, a manganese mining kingpin, who is on the run.
Days after the body’s discovery, the Madhya Pradesh police raked up the old charges against Kothari.
“Kothari was a hawker who used to write dispatches for Nayi Duniya [a reputed multi-edition daily of Madhya Pradesh] till 2012,” Balghat additional superintendent of police Neeraj Soni told media-persons. “There are several cases of blackmailing, extortion, rape against him. He was also externed from the district. The arrested and the absconder were in fact his associates in many cases and their friendship had turned into rivalry. The three had allegedly implicated him in a rape case in which he was discharged. The enmity could be due to the case.”
In Katangi police station, in Balaghat district, Sandeep Kothari is history-sheeter number 15.
Police-mafia nexus
However, the account painted by Neeraj Soni is incomplete. Of the 25 cases registered against him in the past decade, Kothari was convicted in one – and even there he was acquitted by a higher court. In another case he was let off after paying a fine of Rs 500. In four cases where the police claimed to have no information about the verdicts, the judgements were in Kothari’s favour.
Furthermore, Kothari was not a former journalist. After he left Nayi Duniya, he began editing a small daily from Katangi. At both newspapers, he assiduously wrote reports on the local mining mafia and chit fund companies, exposing their crimes, said Kothari’s brother Rahul.
Soni’s account is also at variance with the memories of Kothari’s family and, significantly, the testimonies of his colleagues in the police force.
Kothari was no friend of those now accused of his murder. Vishal Tandi ran a chit fund company, and Brijesh Duhrawal was a realtor-builder. The suspect on the run, Rakesh Narswani, was a notorious mining kingpin in Katangi. Since Kothari exposed their illegal trades, Rahul maintained, they closed ranks to browbeat the journalist by filing a series of cases against him.
Some top police officers too remember Kothari standing up to the police-mafia nexus.
Possible murder motives
According to Rahul, the three men accused of killing his brother were directly or indirectly involved in all the cases registered against him. Kothari was acquitted in 21 cases. Of the remaining four, two were registered recently and two were pending in the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The complainant in the three rape cases against Kothari was the same, said Rahul. In one of these Kothari was discharged. No charge-sheet was filed in the second for lack of evidence. And the third was dismissed when the complainant confessed in court last December that she falsely implicated the scribe at the behest of the three murder accused. After his acquittal, Kothari slapped defamation notices on June 10 against the three men and 24 others who provided false depositions.
Since then the three men had been pressuring Kothari for compromise, Rahul said. His refusal to cave in is suspected to be a probable cause for the murder. Another possible motive, according to Balaghat sub-divisional officer (police) JN Markam, could be the enmity over a case of illegal mining that Kothari had recently filed in a local court against the three men. The police suspect the journalist was perhaps murdered because he refused to withdraw the matter.
The Balaghat police has mentioned these possible motives in a report to the Bhopal headquarters.
An officer, who has read that Balaghat police report, said the journalist paid for his writings with his life. He requested anonymity for fear of possible action against the Katangi police, and refused to discuss the case further "as a special investigation team has been formed to probe the murder”.
Fighting over minerals
Sitting on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Balaghat district is famous for its rich deposits of precious minerals, particularly manganese and bauxite. These minerals have spawned illegal mining whose allure often causes bitter rivalry among mafiosi for dominance in the predominantly tribal area.
The district is also riddled with Naxalite offshoots known as Dalams who extort commission from mining contractors. A large number of policemen are alleged to be part of the extortion racket that is also said to involve politicians. Local journalists are prone to be co-opted into the racket either out of fear of the nexus or inducements. Sandeep Kothari was an honourable exception, said people who knew him well.
Even Neeraj Soni, who was quick to dismiss the journalist as a blackmailer, conceded that Kothari would lodge complaints against the mining mafia with painstaking documentation.
The main opposition party in Madhya Pradesh, Congress, is all set to take up the killing in the monsoon session of the assembly, slated to start in July. Meanwhile, state home minister Babulal Gaur has promised that the special investigation team set up to probe the murder will be fair and comprehensive.
The SIT probe was finally announced after Kothari’s family members refused to trust an investigation by the Katangi police. They accepted Kothari’s body for the last rites on June 22, following an assurance from the police that an independent inquiry will be conducted under deputy superintendent of police JN Markam.
The family stresses the police’s role in the journalist’s relentless harassment which ended with his murder. Kothari’s father Prakash blames the police for conniving with the rich and powerful to get rid of his son. “You don’t know how a father feels when his young son passes away.”
Kothari, 40, was found dead near a railway track in the Butibori forest of Wardha district in Maharashtra on June 20. He was abducted the previous day from Katangi tehsil in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, driven to Maharashtra and then incinerated. The police has arrested two men – Vishal Tandi and Brijesh Duhrawal – and are searching for the main accused, Rakesh Narswani, a manganese mining kingpin, who is on the run.
Days after the body’s discovery, the Madhya Pradesh police raked up the old charges against Kothari.
“Kothari was a hawker who used to write dispatches for Nayi Duniya [a reputed multi-edition daily of Madhya Pradesh] till 2012,” Balghat additional superintendent of police Neeraj Soni told media-persons. “There are several cases of blackmailing, extortion, rape against him. He was also externed from the district. The arrested and the absconder were in fact his associates in many cases and their friendship had turned into rivalry. The three had allegedly implicated him in a rape case in which he was discharged. The enmity could be due to the case.”
In Katangi police station, in Balaghat district, Sandeep Kothari is history-sheeter number 15.
Police-mafia nexus
However, the account painted by Neeraj Soni is incomplete. Of the 25 cases registered against him in the past decade, Kothari was convicted in one – and even there he was acquitted by a higher court. In another case he was let off after paying a fine of Rs 500. In four cases where the police claimed to have no information about the verdicts, the judgements were in Kothari’s favour.
Furthermore, Kothari was not a former journalist. After he left Nayi Duniya, he began editing a small daily from Katangi. At both newspapers, he assiduously wrote reports on the local mining mafia and chit fund companies, exposing their crimes, said Kothari’s brother Rahul.
Soni’s account is also at variance with the memories of Kothari’s family and, significantly, the testimonies of his colleagues in the police force.
Kothari was no friend of those now accused of his murder. Vishal Tandi ran a chit fund company, and Brijesh Duhrawal was a realtor-builder. The suspect on the run, Rakesh Narswani, was a notorious mining kingpin in Katangi. Since Kothari exposed their illegal trades, Rahul maintained, they closed ranks to browbeat the journalist by filing a series of cases against him.
Some top police officers too remember Kothari standing up to the police-mafia nexus.
Possible murder motives
According to Rahul, the three men accused of killing his brother were directly or indirectly involved in all the cases registered against him. Kothari was acquitted in 21 cases. Of the remaining four, two were registered recently and two were pending in the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The complainant in the three rape cases against Kothari was the same, said Rahul. In one of these Kothari was discharged. No charge-sheet was filed in the second for lack of evidence. And the third was dismissed when the complainant confessed in court last December that she falsely implicated the scribe at the behest of the three murder accused. After his acquittal, Kothari slapped defamation notices on June 10 against the three men and 24 others who provided false depositions.
Since then the three men had been pressuring Kothari for compromise, Rahul said. His refusal to cave in is suspected to be a probable cause for the murder. Another possible motive, according to Balaghat sub-divisional officer (police) JN Markam, could be the enmity over a case of illegal mining that Kothari had recently filed in a local court against the three men. The police suspect the journalist was perhaps murdered because he refused to withdraw the matter.
The Balaghat police has mentioned these possible motives in a report to the Bhopal headquarters.
An officer, who has read that Balaghat police report, said the journalist paid for his writings with his life. He requested anonymity for fear of possible action against the Katangi police, and refused to discuss the case further "as a special investigation team has been formed to probe the murder”.
Fighting over minerals
Sitting on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Balaghat district is famous for its rich deposits of precious minerals, particularly manganese and bauxite. These minerals have spawned illegal mining whose allure often causes bitter rivalry among mafiosi for dominance in the predominantly tribal area.
The district is also riddled with Naxalite offshoots known as Dalams who extort commission from mining contractors. A large number of policemen are alleged to be part of the extortion racket that is also said to involve politicians. Local journalists are prone to be co-opted into the racket either out of fear of the nexus or inducements. Sandeep Kothari was an honourable exception, said people who knew him well.
Even Neeraj Soni, who was quick to dismiss the journalist as a blackmailer, conceded that Kothari would lodge complaints against the mining mafia with painstaking documentation.
The main opposition party in Madhya Pradesh, Congress, is all set to take up the killing in the monsoon session of the assembly, slated to start in July. Meanwhile, state home minister Babulal Gaur has promised that the special investigation team set up to probe the murder will be fair and comprehensive.
The SIT probe was finally announced after Kothari’s family members refused to trust an investigation by the Katangi police. They accepted Kothari’s body for the last rites on June 22, following an assurance from the police that an independent inquiry will be conducted under deputy superintendent of police JN Markam.
The family stresses the police’s role in the journalist’s relentless harassment which ended with his murder. Kothari’s father Prakash blames the police for conniving with the rich and powerful to get rid of his son. “You don’t know how a father feels when his young son passes away.”
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