Maharashtra journalist run over allegedly after expose on refinery project

Mumbai: Police on Wednesday slapped the murder charge against a man arrested for allegedly mowing down a journalist with his car in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, an official said.

Several media organisations had demanded a probe into the death of journalist Shashikant Warishe, claiming he had written against local land dealer Pandharinath Amberkar, who is said to be a supporter of the proposed Ratnagiri refinery project.

The organisations claimed Amberkar crushed the scribe’s bike under his car at a petrol pump in Ratnagiri district on Monday. Warishe succumbed to the injuries at a Kolhapur hospital on Tuesday.

The accused (42) was arrested under section 304 (Culpable Homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Police have added section 302 (Punishment for murder) in the FIR against Amberkar, the official said. He was remanded in police custody in Rajapur till February 13.

Police are investigating the exact motive behind the murder.

Earlier, Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Patrakar Parishad members had met Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis and sought a probe into Mr Warishe’s death.

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical project, earlier proposed to be built at Nanar village in Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan, was scrapped before the 2019 polls at the insistence of Shiv Sena, the then alliance partner of BJP.

A Union minister had last year said establishing a 60-million metric tonne per annum oil refinery will be the biggest plant in the world and hinted at its revival.