Maharashtra journo killed in accident allegedly after exposing refinery project
text_fields
Mumbai: Several media outlets in Mumbai demanded probe into the death of journalist Shashikant Warishe in a vehicle accident on Monday.
Police on Wednesday slapped the murder charge against a man arrested for allegedly mowing down the journalist with his car in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.
Shashikant Warishe’s death comes allegedly after he wrote against local land dealer Pandharinath Amberkar, who is said to be a supporter of the proposed Ratnagiri refinery project.
Media organisations claimed Amberkar crushed the scribe's bike under his car at a petrol pump in Ratnagiri district. Warishe succumbed to the injuries at a Kolhapur hospital on Tuesday.
The accused (42) was arrested under section 304 (Culpable Homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Police have added section 302 (Punishment for murder) in the FIR against Amberkar, the official said. He was remanded in police custody in Rajapur till February 13.
Police are investigating the exact motive behind the murder.
Earlier, Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Patrakar Parishad members had met Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis and sought a probe into Warishe's death.
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 insistence of Shiv Sena, the then alliance partner of BJP.
A Union minister had last year said establishing a 60-million metric tonne per annum oil refinery will be the biggest plant in the world and hinted at its revival.
The family and associates of the 48-year-old journalist said he had long been highlighting issues faced by local residents from the Ratnagiri refinery and petrochemicals factory in the district, according to the India Express.
He had written extensively about the concerns of villages regarding land acquisition as well as issues raised by the environmentalists.
Warishe lived with his mother and 19-year-old son in Kasheli village, which is 24 km from Barsu village, which is the proposed area for the project.
The Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd, originally planned in Nanar village of Ratnagiri, is being promoted by three major public sector oil companies – Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd , according to The Indian Express.
PTI story with inputs from other sources