The body of Buddhinath Jha, a 22-year-old journalist and RTI activist, who had disappeared a few days ago, was found in charred condition, on the side of the road, near a village in Bihar’s Madhubani district on Friday evening. Buddhinath Jha, who also went by the alias Avinash Jha, worked for a local news portal in Bihar and had recently exposed several ‘fake’ medical clinics, which had led to the closure of some of the clinics, or amounted to heavy fines in a few cases. An NDTV report claims that the journalist went missing two days after he posted the names of medical clinics that he alleged were “fake” on Facebook. The police have arrested five accused in connection to Jha’s kidnapping and murder case in Madhubani.
While working on the story, the journalist reportedly received not only several threats but also offers of lakhs in bribes. Jha, however, stayed true to his reporting and was not deterred by threats or lured by bribes. He was last spotted around 10 pm on Tuesday near his home. In the CCTV footage installed near his home (which is barely 400 metres away from the local police station), near Lohia Chowk in Benipatti, he is seen coming out of his residence, into the narrow lane, several times from 9 pm.
An NDTV report states that the journalist was last seen walking about on the nearby main road while speaking on his phone. “The feed also shows him going to his clinic (on the same lane as his home) several times while talking on the phone. He left home at 9.58 pm for the last time, wearing a yellow scarf around his neck, and walked past Lohia Chowk, past another house and the Benipatti Police Station,” said the report.
When he was not found the following morning, his family lodged an FIR, and his brother alleged that Jha was abducted by illegal healthcare clinic owners. While the search was on to find the missing scribe, information received by the deceased’s cousin finally led the family to the mortal remains of the journalist on Friday evening. The horrific death of the 22-year-old has generated massive outrage, with many questioning how he could have been kidnapped despite living right next to the police station.
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