MP: Six journalists booked for ‘rioting, using criminal force’ towards mining officer

Six journalists in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district have been booked for rioting and utilizing felony power, amongst different costs, after they allegedly obtained into an argument with a district mining officer, police mentioned Monday.
The FIR towards the six accused — Asif Khan, Praveen Pal, Wahid Khan, Pawan Kumar Solanki, Pradeep Gangle and Dharmendra Chouhan — was registered on a criticism made by district mining officer Sawan Chouhan.
Chouhan, in a written utility to Kotwali police, said that on July 1, when he was in his workplace, the six accused got here in search of a remark for a narrative on unlawful sand mining involving two contractors.
“Asif Khan along with other journalists began bullying and pressured me into giving a byte. But when I refused, they hurled abuses at me, passed casteist slurs and even threatened to kill me. I found this behaviour highly objectionable and it left me deeply embarrassed,” said Chouhan in his criticism.
However, the six accused denied Chouhan’s claims. Speaking to The Indian Express, Pradeep Gangle a journalist related to net portal Dainik Sach Express, defined that the six had gone to hunt Chouhan’s remark for a narrative based mostly on complaints made by villagers of Kumarkheda, Umarkali and close by Mohna on elevated motion of heavy automobiles loaded with sand.
“We had sought an appointment but when we reached Chouhan’s office, we were asked to wait for 10 minutes. A few minutes after waiting outside his office, Chouhan came out and began leaving. It was then that we asked for a comment as we had been waiting but he responded with harsh words,” mentioned Gangle.
Wahid Khan, related to News Nation, identified that two eyewitnesses talked about by Chouhan in his FIR — Dinesh Yadav and Amit Bhavsare — are sand mining contractors who take pleasure in unlawful sand mining.

“Dinesh Yadav holds the post of mahamantri of BJP’s Yuva morcha while Bhavsare is a BJP worker. They were present with Chouhan when we had gone to meet him with regards to a story against illegal sand mining which led to the whole issue. The two were conveniently eyewitnesses in his complaint,” mentioned Wahid.
When contacted Dinesh Yadav advised The Indian Express: “The contract has been given to RK Gupta and company while I am merely overlooking its management at Khargone Nagar. We have been giving full royalties and were marked as ‘good’ by the collector recently. These allegations are completely baseless.”
The six accused, together with Sunil Sharma, president of Khargone Zilla Patrakar Sangh, in a written memorandum said that the contract for sand mining in Khargone had been given to RK Gupta and Company whereas that of Khargone Nagar is with Dinesh Yadav and Amit Bhavsare. “The two have been carrying out sand mining using illegal methods which had been consistently opposed by others running sand businesses. A written complaint of the same has been made to the district authorities. It is with regards to covering the same story that the six journalists had come to seek a comment,” said the memorandum.

However, based on Pradeep Gangle, they might not hand over the memorandum to the district collector as regardless of ready for over two hours, the collector didn’t meet them.
Minister for Agriculture, Kamal Patel, in a tweet on Monday night said that the six journalists have been booked in a wrongful method. “I have asked the Superintendent of Police to conduct an impartial probe,” said Patel.
When requested concerning the allegation made by the journalists, Chouhan mentioned, “The firm has been given a contract and appointed contractors. They visit our office regularly for their regular work. It has nothing to do with the incident and [pertains to] the way the journalist had acted. I have given the byte previously on the subject of illegal mining.”