Senior journalist and writer Mr. Vinod Verma was arrested by the Chhattisgarh police from his residence situated in Indirapuram in district Ghaziabad. The Police allegedly arrested him in connection with possession of a CD showing amorous acts of a Minister in Chhattisgarh’s BJP Govt. and attempting to blackmail the concerned Minister, Mr. Rajesh Munot.

Mr. Vinod Verma is a senior journalist working for last three decades and has worked with BBC and Umar Ujala. He is a member of Editors’ Guild and was a member of the fact finding team sent by Editors’ Guild that had gone to Chhattisgarh to investigate cases of intimidation of journalists in that state.

Mr. Vinod Verma had been writing about the people’s issues and has exposed the violations of human rights in Chhattisgarh including attacks on the journalists who have exposed high-handedness and atrocities by the security forces. While Mr. Verma does have in his possession the material which incriminates a Minister of Chhattisgarh state, this is no crime and his arrest in this dramatic manner shows the increasing intolerance of the RSS-BJP Govt. to the exposure of the misdeed of its leaders.

Arrest of Mr. Vinod Verma is part of the attack of RSS-BJP Govt. of Chhattisgarh against the attempts to expose its atrocities against the people and service of the MNCs and corporate to facilitate their loot and plunder of the rich mineral resources of the state. Deepak Deepak Jaiswal, Prabhat Singh, Santosh Yadav and Somru Nag are many other journalists have met Mr. Verma’s fate earlier at the hands of the Chhattisgarh police. Chhattisgarh Govt. has also launched serious attacks against the activists who have been working for the defense of the democratic rights of the people, particularly tribals of the state. Chhattisgarh Govt. has virtually barred the activities of the democratic rights organizations and journalists in the state to prevent exposure of its designs and actions against the people of the state.

CPI(M)-New Democracy strongly condemns this attack and call upon the people to protest against this. We also demand that given the misuse of CBI by the Central Govt. the case should be investigated under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

October 28, 2017