State police filed a criminal complaint on Friday against two editors and the managing director of the Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar, alleging forgery and the printing of defamatory material. The complaint follows threatening calls to one of them over the paper’s coverage of the liquor mafia and scams.

The complaint against Chief Editor Ashutosh Chaturvedi, Resident Editor Vijay Kant Pathak, and MD Rajeev Jhawar was lodged by one Jogendra Tiwari, a liquor businessman named in one of the newspaper’s reports. Tiwari is currently imprisoned in central jail for money laundering related to a liquor scam.

As per a letter written by Pathak to Hemant Soren, the Chief Minister of the state of Jharkhand, on December 29, Chaturvedi and another individual associated with Prabhat Khabar had received threatening calls in response to the newspaper’s reports, from Tiwari and from numbers traced to the jail where Tiwari is imprisoned. Pathak requested Soren to initiate an investigation into these threats.

The Editors Guild of India expressed deep concern over the complaint. The Guild had earlier urged the Jharkhand government to investigate and ensure Chaturvedi’s safety. The Guild reiterated its demands, urging a thorough investigation and expressing concern over the misuse of criminal defamation laws to intimidate journalists. The Guild advocated for the repeal of criminal defamation laws, emphasizing resolution through civil adjudication. The Press Club of India had raised concerns and called for an investigation earlier as well.

Prabhat Khabar is based in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.  Jharkhand is a state located in eastern India. While Jharkhand is characterized by dense forests, diverse tribal communities, and a significant industrial presence, it also bears the brunt of corruption, crime, poverty, illiteracy and left-wing extremist insurgency.