Journalist found murdered in Dadri, SIT formed

The mutilated body of a 34-year-old journalist was found along the highway near Kuliyana village in Charkhi Dadri district. The deceased, Rajesh Sheoran, who has worked with Hindi dailies Dainik Bhaskar, Hari Bhoomi and Patrika in the past eight years, was working as a stringer. He was also a stock trader.

The police said they found the body with one leg detached around 1am on Thursday. A press card was found on his body. The police informed his village sarpanch in Umarwas.

Sheoran is survived by his wife and three school-going daughters.

The police said prima facie it seemed he was murdered, but post-mortem will establish the cause of death. The post-mortem report is awaited.

Sheoran’s family said he had gone to Dadri on Tuesday evening for some money-related settlement. He had called them on Wednesday evening telling he would stay in Dadri for the night and come back on Thursday morning. However, they found through the village sarpanch late night that he was found dead.

Sheoran’s uncle Ajeet suspected money-related dispute behind his murder. Since the family did not give any name of the suspect, the police have registered a case against unidentified person(s) under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Dadri superintendent of police (SP) Himanshu Garg said they have formed a three-member special investigation team (SIT) under DSP Pradeep Kumar to probe the case. He said the team has been asked to share daily progress reports on the case.

Meanwhile, several journalist bodies in Haryana condemned the incident and slammed poor law and order in state.