UP: Journalist Shot in Unnao After Reporting on 'Land Mafia'

Lucknow: A journalist in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh was allegedly shot at months after he said his life was under threat for reporting on the “land mafia” in the state. The family of the journalist has filed a complaint alleging that he was shot by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, and the incident has sparked a political controversy with opposition leaders demanding a probe.

Mannu Awasthi, a journalist in his thirties, was found seriously injured near Kotwal police station limits on Saturday night, the police said. Awasthi, who worked with a vernacular daily, was rushed to Hallett Hospital in Kanpur, where he was said to be in stable condition. 

Awasthi was riding his scooter through an area under the Kotwal police station limits at around 10:25 pm when unidentified assailants shot at the journalist. He was taken to the district hospital with injuries on his right shoulder. Police later brought the badly injured journalist to Hallett Hospital, where he was treated.

Police have recovered bullet cartridges from the scene of the incident.

Meanwhile, police here have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against two men for allegedly shooting at a local journalist, officials said on Monday.

The FIR was registered against Anshu Gupta and Deepak Singh at the city police station under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The victim’s father lodged the complaint.

“An FIR has been registered against two people whom the journalist named in his complaint in March. The interrogation is underway, and legal action will be taken after the complete investigation,” Unnao Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shashi Shekhar Singh told NewsClick. 

Awasthi had earlier received a threat to his life and informed the local police station about it in March of this year.

“Following exposure of irregularities in land mining, I have been threatened with dire consequences by four members of the land mafia of the city. I fear the threat from Anshu Gupta, Pankaj Gupta and Deepak Singh,” he said in the written complaint on March 17, 2023.

The letter, accessed by NewsClick, reads, “Ever since I had covered the news, my life has become difficult in Unnao... I am getting random calls to kill me, cars without registration numbers following me. If I am attacked or anyone from my family is, these people will be responsible.”

Awasthi had submitted a complaint to the Unnao SP and other senior officers in March, saying there was a threat to his life from four members of the land mafia. After submitting the complaint, he released a video saying he was being threatened over a news report he did regarding an attack on a BJP leader’s house.

Awasthi also named a sitting MLA from the Kanpur Sadar constituency, who was allegedly among those who put pressure on him to “put down the news he had done on the land mafia”.

Surendra Awasthi, the victim’s father, accused the police of not taking timely action against the accused. 

“My son complained back in March that some people were threatening to kill him for doing a story. He had sought protection, but no concrete action was taken to save his life. Who is responsible for his situation? Will a journalist have to shoot a story to do his job?” he told NewsClick. 

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajeev Rai jibed at the ruling BJP-led state government for deteriorating law and order. He wanted to know why Awasthi was not provided security when he asked for it.

“A young journalist from Unnao had come for SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference and had said that if he is not given security, he may be killed by BJP people. The BJP government, in this case, should constitute a high-level probe, and tell the family members and the public why, despite the apprehension of murder by the land mafia expressed by the reporter, he was not provided security,” Rai told NewsClick. 

Interestingly, a rape case against Awasthi was lodged on May 3, and the cheating case on May 4, a month after the journalist had filed a complaint against the land mafia. 

Unnao SP Meena told reporters that the probe in the rape case is ongoing, and the woman’s statement was taken in front of a magistrate a couple of days ago. The investigating officer said that the woman had given a statement against the journalist.

However, Surendra Awasthi said that the case against his son was “fabricated and registered to silence his voice.”

In a similar case, a journalist employed with a TV channel was shot at by two unidentified bike-borne gunmen in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh in February this year.

Journalist Devendra Khare alleged that BJP district president Pushpraj Singh’s brother Rituraj was pressuring him not to report an attack involving him and his father.

Journalists in the state have been attacked for exposing illegal sand mining and exposing irregularities in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

A young journalist named Shubham Mani Tripathi was shot dead by unidentified persons in the Unnao district in 2020 while returning home with his friend on a motorcycle after exposing an influential local leader’s involvement in land grabbing.