3 min readRanchiJan 6, 2024 07:36 AM IST
First published on: Jan 6, 2024 at 03:43 AM IST
Days after a senior editor of Ranchi-based Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar wrote to Chief Minister Hemant Soren on threat calls being made to its chief editor Ashutosh Chaturvedi over the paper’s coverage on liquor mafia in the state, an FIR has been registered against Chaturvedi and three others for forgery and printing materials known to be defamatory among other charges.
On December 29, Vijay Kant Pathak, the resident editor of Prabhat Khabar, had written to the CM that Chaturvedi received a call from a person named Yogendra Tiwari, who is lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail, and was threatened over some recent reports naming him. Tiwari is an accused in a money laundering case for allegedly channeling profits made from illegal sand smuggling into liquor business. It is also alleged that he is a part of a nexus linked to one Prem Prakash, an accused in another PMLA case over illegal mining.
The FIR against Chaturvedi and three others was registered on January 3 at the instance of Yogendra Tiwary who complained that Prabhat Khabar had published “false news”. The FIR also names Sunil Tiwary, the adviser of Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi, as an accused. It states that Yogendra Tiwary was being pressured to lodge a false complaint and when he did not budge, Sunil Tiwary allegedly threatened him that a “syndicate (a group of journalists including Tiwary) would harm him in the future”.
The FIR quoting Yogendra Tiwary states: “I am (Yogendra) in jail since November 3, 2023 and a chargesheet has been filed against me… A false news (report) was published about me in Prabhat Khabar that the chargesheet mentions my two marriages and two wives, which is completely wrong… After reading the news, I was very sad and hurt and cried a lot. My fellow prisoners gave me courage.”
The Editors Guild on Friday voiced concern over the registration of the FIR against the editors of Prabhat Khabar. The Guild noted that the Jharkhand police have registered an FIR under Sections 469, 501, and 502 of the Indian Penal Code against Chaturvedi, Vijay Kant Pathak and the daily’s managing director Rajeev Jhawar in response to the complaint filed by Yogendra Tiwari.
“The Guild also expresses its deep concern on the misuse of criminal defamation laws against journalists in an effort to intimidate and harass them,” the statement said.
Earlier, the Guild had written to the Jharkhand CM as well as top state officers urging them to initiate an inquiry against the liquor mafia and to take necessary steps for ensuring the safety of Chaturvedi.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren 
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