Vernacular daily journalist abused, threatened in Bihar

Nalanda: Close on the heels of the murder of a journalist in Bihar’s Siwan district, another scribe was abused on Thursday and threatened with dire consequences allegedly by four unidentified men in Nalanda district of the state. The incident took place in the office of a leading vernacularly daily at Bihar sharif town on Thursday morning as four persons came and enquired about the bureau chief. On being told that he was on his way to the office, the accused inquired whether he had written a news titled ‘voters ko dhamkane wala giraftar’ (man arrested for intimidating voters) in the context of the recently held panchayat elections. The scribe, Rajesh Singh, then told the accused that it was he who had written the piece based on the input from the District Magistrate, they abused him and threatened with dire consequences. In a strongly-worded warning to the journalist, the four men asked him whether he has not taken lesson from the murder case of a journalist in Siwan. [caption id=“attachment_2789926” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Before making a hasty retreat, they asked Singh to apologise to JD(U) MLC Heera Prasad Bind and issue a rebuttal of the said news in his daily if he wanted no further harm. A terror stricken journalist later lodged an FIR at Laheri police station against four unidentified men for hurling abuse and threatening him with dire consequences. The journalist also said that he will identify those people if they were to be produced before him. Confirming the FIR, the Laheri police station in-charge Rajesh Ranjan said a probe was on in the matter. The incident comes six days after Rajdeo Ranjan, the bureau chief of another vernacular daily, was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in Siwan in which the state government has recommended for a CBI probe.