ABP News Editor Receives Death Threats For Kasganj Coverage

Pankaj Jha narrated how he has been receiving phone calls where people have been abusing him, issuing death threats.

As many as 112 people have been arrested since communal clashes in Kasganj claimed one life.

(Photo: PTI)

As Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj still remains tense after communal clashes claimed one life on 26 January, it has now come to light that a journalist working for ABP News has allegedly been receiving death threats for the coverage of the violence.

ABP News editor Pankaj Jha took to Twitter to narrate how he has been receiving phone calls wherein people have been abusing him, issuing death threats and threatening to abduct his daughter.

Since morning, some people have been calling to abuse me, issue death threats, threatening to abduct my daughter...These people are asking whether one needs permission in the country even to take out a ‘Tiranga Yatra’. But this is what the Kasganj DM had said, so the question should be asked to him.

Pankaj Jha

The journalist posted the screenshots of these numbers on Twitter, as he said:

After many years of doing journalism, I have come to see this day too. I have stopped picking up these numbers. Ask me why? Because I am getting death threats from them.

Pankaj Jha

Jha also said that he has told the police about these numbers and messages.

According to a Newslaundry report, ABP News was one of the news channels that, with its comprehensive coverage, helped dispel various rumours regarding the Kasganj violence.

As many as 112 people have been arrested since communal clashes in Kasganj claimed one life.

Violence broke out in the Uttar Pradesh town where at least three shops, two buses and a car were torched following the cremation of 22-year-old Chandan Gupta who died in clashes on 26 January.

On Monday, Gupta’s kin refused the Rs 20 lakh compensation promised by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on 28 January. His relatives, instead, demanded that he should be given ‘shaheed’ (martyr) status.