Journalists in Gujarat have demanded an impartial inquiry into the killing of their colleage Kishore Dave.
Journalists of English and vernacular dailies and electronic media gathered at the Gandhi Ashram on Wednesday carrying placards that had slogans demanding a fair probe.
Dave (53), working as the bureau chief of vernacular daily Jai Hind, was murdered in Junagadh, Saurashtra on Monday night. It is understood that Dave was stabbed repeatedly in the chest when he was filing an article. His body was found by an office assistant.
Police arrested three persons in connection with the murder on Wednesday. Those arrested are Feroz Ala, Sanjay Rathod and Aarif Sayeed.
Family members of the deceased have alleged that Bhavesh, son of local BJP leader Ratilal, was behind the murder. Ratilal has, however, rejected the allegations.
Sources said that the murder was a result of rivalry between Firoz and Dave in connection with their travel business. However, Dave's family said that the differences were sorted out and stuck to their allegations against Bhavesh.
They also said that Dave had demanded police protection, fearing threat to his life.
In Ahmedabad, journalists demanded that the real culprits should be arrested. One of the journalists, who was present at the protest, said that this was the second incident of attack on journalists in the last 20 days. Earlier, one reporter of a vernacular television channel was attacked when he was shooting brewing of country made liquor.
They demanded that journalists be given protection.