Scribe murder in Ghaziabad: SHO suspended for negligence

GHAZIABAD: Two days after journalist Vikram Joshi succumbed to bullet injuries that he sustained after being shot in the head by local goons, the station house officer (SHO) of Vijay Nagar, Rajeev Kumar Singh, has been suspended for negligence. The investigation of the case has also been transferred to Kotwali police station.
The action was taken on Thursday following a report submitted by Ravi Kumar Mishra, the circle officer 1st (city), who was probing the matter.
On Monday night, Joshi, a 35-year-old journalist with a Hindi newspaper, was shot in Mata Colony area of Vijay Nagar when he was on his way home on a two-wheeler with his two daughters. A sexual harassment complaint Joshi had filed against two of the accused, Ravi and Chhotu, and two others, was suspected to be the trigger.
In his report, Mishra said that while Joshi’s family had complained to the area police that the accused had molested Joshi’s niece, the concerned officer took no action. The family had alleged that even on the day of the attack, the matter was reported to the Vijay Nagar SHO on the phone, but he took no action citing his ‘unstable’ health condition.
Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani told TOI that the circle officer had found that there was a lack of supervision on the part of the SHO. “He had received information about the conflict but didn’t ask the sub-inspector whether he had acted on it or not,” he said.
From July 16, when Joshi and his sister filed the complaint, till July 20, the day of the attack, no preventive or legal action was taken, Naithani said. “For better investigation, the probe has been shifted to the Kotwali police station so no one can disturb it,” he added.
Meanwhile, the tenth accused, Akash Bihari, is yet to be arrested. Initial police investigation showed that he kept a watch on the house and was supposed to inform the other accused in case any of Joshi’s family members came near the spot where they had planned to attack him.
Joshi’s brother Aniket told TOI the family had named him in the complaint. “Bihari is moving around freely. He used to threaten us whenever we went to the chowki to ask police if they had lodge an FIR in the molestation complaint,” he said.
“We are trying to trace him and taking the help of surveillance. We are also checking with his relatives if they know about his whereabouts,” SSP Naithani said.
In the past few days, the attack on Joshi has triggered widespread criticism of the Yogi Adityanath government by several opposition leaders, who said there was ‘jungle raj’ in the state. Following the journalist’s death early Wednesday morning, the government announced a relief of Rs 10 lakh for his family, and a cheque was handed over the next day.