Police suspects Maoist hand behind journalist killing

Members of the media fraternity working in the Maoist-affected Bastar district are in a state of shock following the killing of Sai Reddy (48), a senior journalist working with a Hindi daily on Friday.

Members of the media fraternity working in the Maoist-affected Bastar district are in a state of shock following the killing of Sai Reddy (48), a senior journalist working with a Hindi daily on Friday.

The Chhattisgarh police investigating the case claimed it to be a work of the Maoists. The residents of Bijapur district called for a bandh on Saturday even as journalists in Bastar deciding to hold a week-long protest. The Maoists attacked Reddy with shape-edged weapons at Basaguda’s market place and fled.

Reddy, working as a reporter in the red zone for over two decades, was virtually squeezed between the state police and the Maoists as both suspected him of siding with the other. His house was set ablaze by guerrillas in his native village Basaguda and a year after he was booked under the much-debated Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.

“ We suspect he was killed by the Maoists”, the Bijapur district superintendent of police Prashant Agrawal told HT.