Body of Madhya Pradesh journalist who fought against illegal mining found

Media reports quoted police as saying that two of the three abductors who had been arrested confessed to have choked the journalist to death inside a car before burning his body and dumping it on  on railway tracks around 50 km away in Wardha in neighbouring Maharashtra.ed

Kothari was being allegedly hounded by a local mafia group that wanted him to withdraw an illegal mining case he had filed against them.

On Friday, when Kothari was on his way to a village in Balaghat districtt on a friend's bike, the men allegedly followed him in a car. They allegedly hit the bike to stop it and took Mr Kothari away after thrashing his friend.

His friend reported the matter to police which led to the arrest of Vishal Dandi and Brijesh Duharwal, two of the miscreants. The third attacker, Rakesh Nasvani, is still missing.

All three were allegedly involved in illegal mining activities and chit fund companies.

"They are related to manganese mafia... My brother was a good journalist. He exposed many of their corrupt practices. I suspect more people were involved and hired these three to kill him," media reports quoted  Naveen Kothari, the brother of Sandeep Kothari, as saying.


The 40-year-old journalist was a local correspondent with a Jabalpur-based Hindi daily. He had written many articles about illegal mining.

Senior leaders of the opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh have demanded an investigation into the journalist's killing.

"Journalist Burnt to Death Allegedly by Mining Mafia in M P Sand Mafia is flourishing in MP under State patronage," tweeted Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.