Hindi news daily Prabhat Khabar’s Ranchi-based chief editor Ashutosh Chaturvedi and three others have been booked for defamation over the newspaper’s report on jailed businessman Yogendra Tiwari. The liquor, land and sand baron is currently lodged in Ranchi jail in a money laundering case.

Besides Chaturvedi, the media outlet's Rajeev Jhanbar, Vijay Pathak and Sunil Tiwari have been booked by the Jharkhand police.

The newspaper had published a report on Tiwari on December 28, reportedly on the basis of the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate. The news report also claimed that Tiwari has two wives and that he had profited by illegal sale of sand.      

A day after the report came out, Chaturvedi allegedly received threat calls from Tiwari from the jail on December 29. Subsequently, the editor filed a complaint with the police and a CID probe was launched. 

However, Chaturvedi’s complaint was swiftly followed by Tiwari’s defamation case against him. The jailed businessman alleged that Prabhat Khabar published “fake news” against him after he refused to comply with the editor’s demand for a favour.    

Several journalists organisations, including the Editors Guild, demanded an “impartial investigation” and strict action in the matter. A statement issued by the guild said it was “wrong for a senior journalist to be threatened in exchange for publishing news”. 

The Press Club of India took to X to express “deep concern on the misuse of criminal defamation law against journalists,” and also urged the Jharkhand police to take “serious note” of the threats received by Chaturvedi.  

National Union of Journalists-India president Rash Bihari questioned the state government over the use of a jail phone number to make threat calls.

Meanwhile, Prabhat Khabar issued a statement saying that it will continue to publish impartial reports.

This report was first published in Newslaundry Hindi.