CBI takes over probe in journalist's murder

CBI today registered a case in the murder of a Madhya Pradesh based journalist Chandrika Rai and his three family members two years ago, in which driver of the victim was chargesheeted by the state police.
Rai, his wife Durga, son Jalaj Rai and daughter Nisha Rai were murdered on February 17-18, 2012. The local police had arrested the driver of the deceased and filed a chargesheet against him on May 26, 2012.
Acting on the plea of relatives of the journalist, High Court of Madhya Pradesh had ordered CBI to take over the probe in the matter and stayed the trial against the driver.

"The family members of Rai approached the High Court of Madhya Pradesh for CBI probe into the case vide Writ Appeal number 803/2012 and Writ Appeal No 20/2013. The High Court stayed the ongoing trial against accused and passed order for reinvestigation of the case by CBI," agency spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said here.
A freelance journalist, Rai was a regular contributor to a number of Hindi and English newspapers in which he was raising issues of illegal coal mining in the Jabalpur region.
In his series of articles, he had alleged the involvement of local BJP leaders in the illegal coal mining.

After the murders, Press Council of India also opined that police had failed to give any conclusive report in the murders and concurred with the views of the family members of Rai that a specialised agency should investigate the murders.