Journalist, Who Was Probing 'Police-Sand Mafia Link', Mowed Down By Truck In Madhya Pradesh

A 35-year-old journalist investigating illegal sand mining cases in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh was run over by a dumper under mysterious circumstances on Monday morning.

Deceased has been identified as Sandeep Sharma, who was working with a national news channel and had filed a complaint with the police citing immediate threat to his life from a police officer after a ¡®sting operation¡¯ against him.

Sharma had filed a story accusing the officer of being hand in gloves with the sand mafias. An audio conversation of the officer in question was aired by his channel after which the officer was transferred, said sources.

The incident took place a few meters away from the Kotwali police station at 8.55am when Sharma was hit by the dumper from behind killing him on the spot. Police have cordoned off the area to arrest the dumper driver. CCTV footages are being scanned.

He was survived by his wife; two children aged 14 and 15 year. His brother got martyred fighting terrorists in Kashmir on April 22, 2004.

BCCL/Representational Image

Sharma¡¯s death has triggered a panic among other journalists in the region. It is alleged that police responded after 15 to 20 minutes despite the fact that spot was a few meters from the police station.

District SP Prashant Khare has assured local media that he would investigate the matter from all angles and no stones would be left unturned.

Bhind Press club president Sathyanarayan Sharma told TOI that Sharma¡¯s death was highly suspicious and should be probed thoroughly.

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¡°He was a brave journalist and had filed stories against mining mafias. He was facing threat from a police officer whom he had exposed a few months ago and had submitted a complaint to the SP citing threat to his life. Fact that the dumper was empty also give rise to suspicion,¡± Sharma said adding the police officers have launched investigations.

Earlier two journalists were killed in Bihar on Saturday night. They were run over by a village council head and his men in Bhojpur, around 80 km from Patna. Navin Nishchal, who worked for Dainik Bhaskar, and his colleague Vijay Singh, were on a bike when they were hit by a car.