Bastar scribe Prabhat Singh untraceable since Friday. Is police behind it

Bastar scribe Prabhat Singh untraceable since Friday. Is police behind it

VIKAS KUMAR@CatchNews
| First published: 17 September 2016, 20:23 IST

Arya Sharma/Catch News
Bastar journalist Prabhat Singh missing since Friday. Is the police behind his 'disappearance'?

Bastar is known as a dangerous place for journalists. Now scribe Prabhat Singh has disappeared


Prabhat Singh, a 31-year-old journalist based out of Dantewada in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh, has been missing since the evening of Friday, 16 September.

His close aides and colleagues suspect that the local police has taken him into illegal custody. Till the time this report was published, Prabhat could not be traced.

In March, Prabhat was arrested under sections 67 and 67 (a) of the IT Act for allegedly posting an "obscene message" against Bastar Inspector General of Police K Sivarama Prasad Kalluri on WhatsApp groups. The Bastar police also accused him of financial misappropriation. The Chhattisgarh High Court granted him bail in June this year.

Prabhat's cell phone has been switched off since 7 pm on Friday, increasing the worries of his family and journalist friends.

He had posted a message on a WhatsApp group at around 3.15 pm on Friday, alleging he had received a threatening call from the Jagdalpur Police Station while he was on his way back from meeting his lawyer.

"Mere pas kotwali prabhari ka phone aaya hai. Wo mujhe keh rahe hain ki tu jaldi Jagdalpur aa, nahin to tujhe Dantewada se uthakar layenge (The police station in-charge called me. He wants me to come to Jagdalpur at once, else they'll pick me up from Dantewada)," he wrote.

Prabhat recorded the entire conversation and shared audio clips on the same WhatsApp group.
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