JOIN USA journalist based in Thane was reportedly murdered under mysterious circumstances while two others were attacked after they had gone to cover a raid on a bar at Mira Road-Bhayander suburbs of Mumbai in the wee hours of Friday.
The body of the deceased journalist, Raghavendra Dube, who ran a local news weekly, was found in a pool of blood near SK Stone in Mira Road suburbs. The body bore several injury marks and was sent for autopsy.
According to reports, Santosh Mishra and Shashi Sharma had gone to the White House orchestra bar in Naya Nagar area of Mira Road, which was raided by the police and some bar dancers were rescued. The duo was attacked by the staff members of the bar as they were covering the raid. Both suffered serious injuries.
Dube, after learning about the raid and the attack on fellow professionals, went to the spot and later to the Mira Road police station. It is not clear, however, whether Dube had reached there on his own or was called. He was reportedly attacked with iron roads and sustained severe head injuries.
“We are making a detailed probe and ascertaining whether the two incidents are linked,” Rajesh Pradhan, Superintendant of Police, Thane Rural, said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has assured journalists’ bodies that speedy action would be taken. The Mumbai Press Club, Maharashtra Patrakar Parishad, Bombay News Photographers Association and others are demanding attacks on journalists non-bailable offence.