The Madhya Pradesh police have arrested three persons in connection with the alleged killing of a journalist whose dead body was found near a railway track at Sindi in Maharashtra's Wardha district on Saturday night.
The incident occurred on 19 June and came to light on the night of 20 June. The 40-year-old journalist, Sandeep Kothari, was kidnapped on Friday while he was riding with a friend to a village.
The three arrested have been identified as Rakesh Nasvani, Vishal Dandi and Brijesh Duharwal.
The police are investigating the case from all possible angles.
"Case is being looked from every angle. There are chances of old rivalry or an issue related to land. We will look into minute details and these nodes of investigation will be taken into consideration. As facts will come forward, investigation will be given direction," said Inspector General of Balaghat DC Sagar.
Rakesh Nasvani, Vishal Dandi and Brijesh Duharwal forced Kothari into their car and choked him to death before burning his body. They then dumpd his body near the railway track in Maharashtra.
"He was murdered in the car and his body was set on fire near a railway track," NDTV quoted inspector Sanjay Chaukse as saying.
The Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) JS Markam said that the three arrested persons are suspected to have been involved in illegal mining and running chit fund companies, PTI reports.
Kothari is said to have been killed for refusing to withdraw a court case against illegal mining. He was a local correspondent with a Hindi daily in Jabalpur.
"My deceased brother has been complaining of and writing about the mafias for 5 years now. His murder was a result of that," ANI quoted Sandeep Kothari's brother Naveen Kothari as saying in a tweet.
He claimed that several false cases were filed against Sandeep, who was also sent to jail for 17 months.
In these 5 years, some 20-25 false cases have been registered against him (Sandeep Kothari): Rahul Kothari pic.twitter.com/9ZIKaE7s1n
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 22, 2015
He(Sandeep Kothari) was in jail for 17months.15 days back he sent notices to 27ppl who hd acted as false witnesses against him:Rahul Kothari — ANI (@ANI_news) June 22, 2015
