The burnt body of RTI activist and journalist Buddhinath Nath Jha alias Avinash Jha, who was kidnapped by four people a few days ago, was found in a roadside bush within the jurisdiction of Benipatti police station in Madhubani district of Bihar late Friday.
Jha (23), who resided near Lohia Chowk in Benipatti, was a web portal reporter. On the night of November 9, four men kidnapped him near his house. On Friday (November 12), his charred body was found lying in a bush between Pali and Urain villages. After post-mortem examination on Saturday, the body was given to his family members, The Times of India reported.
A policeman stated that the young journalist-RTI activist was strangled to death. “It was revealed in the post-mortem. The body was identified by family members on the basis of a ring he had in one of his fingers, a mole on his leg and charred remains of his red shirt which he had been wearing on November 9,” TOI quoted the policeman as saying.
Jha had, reportedly, lodged RTI pleas and written articles against hospitals, clinics and other medical establishments running illegally in his locality. Several establishments operating without a valid licence were shut by the authorities after Jha sent petitions against them to the district magistrate of Madhubani.
NDTV reported that Jha went missing a day after he shared on Facebook a post wherein he described some clinics as “fake”. Jha, during his work tenure, got several threats and bribe offers, but nothing could deter him from performing his job.
His brother, identified as Chandra Shekhar, had filed a case stating that Jha had been kidnapped by the owner of those unauthorized healthcare establishments that were exposed by him, according to the police, the TOI report stated.
On Saturday, two people were detained by the police for questioning in connection with the case. Police suspect that the crime was the outcome of Jha’s RTI activities which led to action against multiple healthcare establishments in the area.