On August 10, Police recovered the dead body of Sudershan TV’s journalist Manish Kumar Singh who was missing for three days. As per reports, his body was recovered from the water in Gachi Tola Chewar, Mathlohiar Village, under the Harsiddhi Police Station area, Bihar. Based on the CCTV footage available of the area, the Police arrested Mohammad Arsad Alam and Amarendra Singh in connection to Manish’s kidnapping and murder.
CEO of Sudarshan News, Suresh Chavhanke met the Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai and submitted a letter demanding an inquiry into the brutal murder of his channel’s journalist. Tweeting the letter, Chavhanke said that “Journalist Manish Kumar of Madhubani, Bihar has been murdered by jihadis who ate the work of Sudarshan”.
सुदर्शन के पत्रकार की हत्या की जांच की मांग के लिए केंद्रीय गृह राज्यमंत्री श्री नित्यानंद राय जी से मिल कर पत्र दिया. उन्होंने तत्काल गहन जांच का वचन दिया है.
— Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) August 13, 2021
सुदर्शन का कार्य करने से खुन्दक खाए जिहादियों ने मधुबनी, बिहार के पत्रकार मनीष कुमार की हत्या की है. #JusticeForManish pic.twitter.com/Vpx6c1eKTW
The letter says that Manish Singh, who was a journalist with Sudarshan News was always a target for those who were corrupt and ones with ‘Jihadi mentality’ because of his fearless journalism. The letter further says that it was on the 7th of August that they got the news of Manish Singh missing and when his father approached the police, they took a lackadaisical approach to the probe. They kept saying that Manish has probably disappeared with some girl and would be back on his own eventually. The letter further alleges that the father of Manish has said that the culprits who have been arrested in a haste and are being used to whitewash the murder of his son and that the police is trying to suppress the real motives behind the crime.
Manish’s father has said that a recent story that he was working on could be the reason for his murder, however, the police are not keen on investigating the same and are simply closing the case in haste without proper investigation.
Suresh Chavhanke in his letter further says that Manish was investigating the links of three major terrorist incidents to places in Bihar like Motihari and Areraj. The three major terror attacks that he was investigating was the Banka Masjid blast, Darbhanga parcel blast and Siwan blast. He says that Afzal Alam, who is also a local journalist in Manish’s father’s paper, got to know about the story Manish was working on and started asking questions about it constantly. The father of Manish said that ever since news got out that Manish had joined Sudarshan news, his enemies increased manyfold and that in his murder, there are Jihadi elements involved.
Chavhanke ends the letter by saying that the same Jihadi elements who murdered Manish, according to his father’s statement, are also a threat to Sudarshan News journalists across the country. Citing this, Suresh Chavhanke demanded an impartial probe into the murder of Manish.
The murder of Sudarshan News journalist, Manish Singh
As per reports, on August 8, Manish left home to attend a function in Math Lahoria Village of the Harsidhhi Police Station area. He went missing after that, and his mobile phone was switched off. Later, his bike was recovered from the Harsiddhi village. Manish was constantly getting threats to his life, and there was a land dispute going on. A complaint was filed over the dispute on July 25 by Sanjay at the local Police station.
After Manish’s disappearance, his father filed a complaint at Harsiddhi Police Station in which he named 12 persons, including two journalists identified as Mohammad Arsad Alam and Amarendra Singh.
While the Police were investigating, they got the information that locals have spotted an unidentified body. Police reached the spot and called Sanjay Singh to identify the body. As it was bloated and mutilated, Singh was able to identify Manish by the shoes. Reports suggest that Manish’s eyes were gouged out, and there were injuries on his face.
