- Sunday, February 23, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Shubham Ghosh
SENIOR Indian National Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday (15) wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking a CBI probe into the “mysterious” death of journalist Sulabh Srivastava who recently made a report on liquor mafia.
Vadra, who is the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee for UP, also demanded action against the nexus of “liquor mafia and administration” saying it had taken root across the state.
Srivastava, 42, died under “mysterious circumstances” on the night of June 13 in Pratapgarh district in eastern UP while returning home from beat, Vadra wrote to Adityanath. According to the police, Srivastava, a television journalist, died in a “motorcycle accident”. It was only a day before his death that Srivastava wrote to senior police officers that he felt threatened after reporting on the liquor mafia in Pratapgarh where he was based. He had also written to the additional director general of police of Prayagraj zone expressing concern over the safety of himself and his family.
In her letter written in Hindi, Vadra also appealed to the administration to provide immediate financial help to Srivastav’s family.
The UP Police on Monday (14) registered a case over Srivastava’s death. The man was reportedly found near a brick kiln and had severe injury marks on his head, Vadra said. “I request you to get a CBI inquiry done in this matter. Action should be taken against the nexus of liquor mafia and administration which has taken roots across the state,” Vadra penned in her letter to Adityanath.
Reports of deaths caused by spurious liquor have surfaced from many places of UP and many have died by consuming the same from Aligarh to Pratapgarh, Vadra said. In such a situation, the fact that a journalist fears the liquor mafia suggests that the rule of law has no significance, Vadra alleged. She also said there have been attacks on journalists in places like Ballia and Unnao in the past as well.
Priyanka slams UP government on Twitter
The Congress leader also expressed her anger in a tweet, saying: “The liquor mafia has killed from Aligarh to Pratapgarh but the UP government is silent. Journalists are asking dangerous questions to expose the truth. The government is asleep.”
Srivastava’s widow Renuka Srivastava said in a police complaint that her husband was facing threat for doing a story against the liquor mafia and despite the Prayagraj additional director general of police being informed about it in writing, no effective action was taken.
Press Council of India seeks report
Meanwhile, the Press Council of India (PCI) has sought a report from the Adityanath government and the state police on Srivastava’s death. PCI chairman Justice Chandramouli Kumar Prasad has taken suo motu cognisance in the matter, the council said in a statement in Hindi on Tuesday. On Monday, the Editors Guild of India said it was shocked by the “cavalier manner” in which UP Police was treating Srivastava’s suspicious death.
“The Government of Uttar Pradesh, the state Director General of Police and the Superintendent of Police, Pratapgarh have been asked to send a report “based on the facts in the matter,” the council added.
Other Opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have also demanded a swift, impartial and credible investigation into the matter.
