Ghaziabad journalist murder case: Non-bailable warrant against absconding suspect, Rs25,000 reward announced

Police have obtained a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against an absconding suspect involved in the murder of journalist Vikram Joshi (35) and have also announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for his whereabouts.

The police said that the suspect, Akash Bihari, was part of the group of assailants, who were present at the scene of the crime, when Joshi was shot at.

The incident had occurred at Mata Colony in Ghaziabad’s Vijay Nagar late at night on July 20, while Joshi was going back home on his two-wheeler with his two minor daughters riding pillion.

Both the accused and the victim are residents of Vijay Nagar.

Joshi, a journalist with a local Hindi newspaper, succumbed to his critical gunshot head injuries a day later and nine people were arrested in connection with his murder.

Preliminary investigation had revealed that suspects had a fight with Joshi’s family on July 16.

Later, though Joshi’s family members had wanted to file a complaint against the men for allegedly harassing his nice, the Pratap Vihar police post in-charge, Raghvendra Kumar, had allegedly refused to act on it.

“Akash Bihari, the 10th suspect in the murder case, is absconding. We have obtained an NBW against him and a reward of Rs 25,000 has also been announced for his whereabouts. He is absconding since the shooting incident and several teams are trying to trace him. He was also present with the other accused at the scene of the crime on July 20,” said Manish Mishra, superintendent of police (SP), Ghaziabad city.

“An inquiry is on about the police’s alleged laxity in the case,” he added.

One of the accused, Shahnoor alias Chotu, had allegedly shot at Joshi from a point-blank range. He had sustained critical bullet injuries in his head that led to his death around 4 am on July 21.

The police filed a first information report (FIR) on the day Joshi died for harassing his niece and named two persons among the alleged assailants as accused along with two other unidentified persons.

Kumar has been suspended for not acting on the complaint that Joshi’s family had wanted to file on July 16.

The station house officer (SHO) of Vijay Nagar police station was also packed off to police lines for his alleged lack of supervision in the case that led to Joshi’s murder.