Manish Kumar Singh, a 30 year old journalist associated with Sudarshan News Channel has been murdered in East Champaran district of Bihar. He went missing 3 days ago and his dead body was recovered from a pond in Math Lohiyar village.
Based on CCTV footage and other evidence, police has arrested Mohammad Arsad Alam and Amarendra Singh, who also happen to be journalists. The dead body contained marks of torture and an eye was gouged out. His body was beyond recognition and could be identified only by his shoes.
While the cause of murder is yet to be ascertained, Manish’s family had few ongoing property disputes. His father Sanjay Kumar Singh runs a local newspaper named Areraj Darshan. He is also an RTI Activist. Reports suggest that Manish could have been targeted as a revenge of some journalistic expose made by him or his father.
Manish went untraceable 3 days ago, after he had gone to attend a function. His mobile was switched off. A day later his bike was found in Harsiddhi village. After this, his father registered a police complaint against 12 suspects including Irshad Alam and Amarendra singh. 2 days later, locals in Gaddi Tola of Math Lohiyar village discovered a floating dead body in the pond, following which the police was informed and identification was made.
Manish worked for Sudarshan News, which was the focal point of a controversy in Novemeber 2020, when it aired a program on UPSC Jihad dealing about infiltration of Muslims in the bureaucracy through UPSC. After 4 episodes of the program, a ban was imposed by the Supreme Court which was later lifted.