Media associations demand judicial probe into Maharashtra journalist's murder

Media associations on Thursday demanded a judicial probe into the murder of journalist Shashikant Warishe in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district.

In a joint statement issued here, the Press Club of India, Press Association and the Delhi Union of Journalists condemned the brutal crime and demanded a high-level probe into the incident by a sitting high court judge or a retired Supreme Court judge.

"The brutal murder has seriously affected standards of civil liberties and freedom of the press. Only a high-level judicial probe can bring the facts to light and ensure security to journalists," the associations said.

Warishe had written a series of reports highlighting the "local resistance to a petroleum refinery in Barsu."

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical project, earlier proposed to be built at Nanar village in Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan, was scrapped before the 2019 polls at the instance of the Shiv Sena, the then alliance partner of the ruling BJP.

Warishe, who wrote for Marathi newspapers, died at a hospital in Kolhapur on Tuesday after an SUV, allegedly driven by Pandharinath Amberkar, hit his two-wheeler at a petrol pump in Rajapur area on Monday.