Family of murdered Junagadh journalist accuses BJP leaders of crime

Junagadh-based journalist Kishore Dave, the bureau chief of 'Jai Hind', a local daily, was found murdered at his workplace last night.

Unidentified assailants stabbed him to death around 9:30 p.m. His family allegedly accused Bhavesh Suraj, the son of BJP senior leader Ratilal Suraj, of committing the crime.

Junagad B-division police inspector M K Parmar said, "One more journalist has been murdered in Gujarat. He was the bureau chief of 'Jai Hind' a newspaper published from Rajkot. He was working at his Junagad office complex near Vanjari Chowk when unknown people attacked him. Dave died on the spot. His assistant informed the police about the incident.

Kishore's brother, Prakash Dave said, "My brother has been murdered on the orders of Ratilal Suraj and Bhavesh Suraj because there was some major issue going on between the BJP and Kishore Dave since last year. Bhavesh Suraj was facing allegations of women harassment during a conference and Kishore Dave published the story in his newspaper, for which he had to face a defamation case as well. Since this incident, Suraj and Dave have been clashing."

"Due to the same reason, they conspired to murder my brother. We had even reported it to the police that Kishore faced a threat to his life from these leaders," he added.