A web journalist who had, according to his family, been set ablaze at the behest of an Uttar Pradesh minister for writing against him on social media, and sustained severe burns and has died in hospital.
Jagendra Singh, a resident of UP’s Shahjahanpur town, about 175 km from here, had sustained 60 per cent burns during a raid by cops at his residence on June 1. He died on Monday in Lucknow's Civil Hospital, after having battled for life for almost a week.
Singh's family said he was killed at the behest of Minister of State for Backward Class Welfare Rammurti Verma.
Singh had written several posts on Facebook and other social media sites after Verma's name cropped in a gang-rape case. He had also written posts on the minister's involvement in illegal mining activities. Singh had also said that the local cop, identified as Inspector Sriprakash Rai, who had raided his house had poured petrol on him and set him ablaze, along with the house.
He said he was being hounded for having exposed the minister's wrongdoings.
A murder case has been registered in Shahajahanpur against the minister and five others, including the policeman, said sources here.
The police had claimed earlier that Singh had himself torched his house and tried to commit suicide when raided. “In fact, Singh was admitted to hospital by the cops,” claimed a police official from the district.
Senior IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, who had met Singh in hospital, said his family members had told him that during the raid one Gufran, a close aide of the minister, had also accompanied the inspector and played an active role in the entire incident.
Calling this a serious case, where a person lost his life for exposing corruption, Thakur has sought strong and immediate action against all guilty persons.
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