Killings – Journalists

The body of a 22-year-old journalist and RTI activist, who was kidnapped four days ago, was found on Friday evening – burned and tossed by the roadside – near a village in Bihar’s Madhubani district.

Buddhinath Jha, alias Avinash Jha, was a journalist working with a local news portal. He disappeared two days after he uploaded a Facebook post that named medical clinics that he alleged were “fake”. His work had led to the closure of some such clinics and massive fines for others.

During his reporting Buddhinath apparently received numerous threats and offers of lakhs in bribes, neither of which deterred him from his work.

He was last seen around 10 pm on Tuesday – on the feed of a CCTV installed near his home near Lohia Chowk in Benipatti. His house is less than 400 metres from the town’s police station.