India: Two journalists murdered in space of two weeks

06 Mar 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost

An Indian newspaper reporter has been beaten to death, less than two weeks after another journalist was clubbed to death in the same area. Rajesh Mishra was attacked and beaten on 1 March in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Mishra, from weekly newspaper Media Raj, received threats following his reports about alleged mismanagement of a number of regional schools owned by Rajneesh Banerjee, the publisher of another Rewa-based newspaper, Vindhya Bharat. The journalist was invited to meet the editor of Vindhya Bharat at a tea stand, where he was attacked. Fellow journalist Chandrika Rai was beaten to death in Madhya Pradesh, along with his wife and two children, last month.

India: Journalist and family found dead at home

23 Feb 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost

Indian journalist Chandrika Rai, his wife and two teenage children were found beaten to death in their home in Umaria, Madhya Pradesh state. Rai, 42, who worked for two Hindi-language dailies, Navbharat and Hitavada, had been investigating illegal mining in Umaria. Some local news reports have suggested that his murder could be linked to the kidnapping of a local official’s son or with a personal land dispute.