New Delhi - Police in central India arrested two men suspected of abducting a journalist and burning him to death, police said on Monday.
Sandeep Kothari, 40, who worked for some local Hindi-language newspapers, went missing from near his home in Madhya Pradesh state on Friday.
His charred body was found near a railway track in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra the next day, Balaghat district’s deputy police chief Neeraj Soni said.
Police said the suspects had confessed to killing Kothari.
Domestic media reported that Kothari may have been targeted for writing about illegal mining.
He had taken some miners to court over their alleged wrongdoing.
“There seems to be personal enmity between the accused and Kothari over some land deals. A third accused is at large,” Soni told dpa.
Kothari’s death is the latest in the series of attacks on Indian journalists.
Earlier this month, a freelance journalist Jagendra Singh was allegedly burnt to death by policemen on a minister’s orders.
A few days later, a TV journalist in the same state was beaten and dragged behind a motorcycle.
Journalists often face criminal intimidation and harassment at the hands of police, bureaucrats and politicians in India. India is ranked 136 out of 180 countries according to the 2015 World Press Freedom Index.
DPA