Journalists Killed in 2014 - Motive Confirmed: MVN Shankar

Andhra Prabha
November 26, 2014, in Andhra Pradesh, India

Shankar died at a local hospital a day after being beaten by unidentified assailants with iron rods, according to news reports. The journalist was returning home after filing a report in Chilakaluripet town in Guntur district in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Shankar was a senior journalist for the Telugu-language daily Andhra Prabha, who had frequently reported on the "oil mafia," a common term for criminals who intercept shipments of kerosene oil and gas and thin it down with much cheaper oil, according to news reports. Shankar had also written about corruption in the rice mill trade shortly before his death, according to The Hoot, a South Asian media watchdog group.

A statement by the Indian Journalists Union said Shankar was killed for his coverage of a group that had engaged in the illegal sale on the black market of rationed essential items, including kerosene oil, for the poor, which was supplied through the country's food security system known as the Public Distribution System, reports said. Thirty-eight percent of kerosene is smuggled or misused to adulterate diesel oil, according to news reports citing the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

Police said they were investigating the case, reports said.

In January 2013, an activist was murdered in the nearby Maharashtra state after he exposed the illegal sales of kerosene oil and ration cards. An official working as a district collector was burned alive in Maharashtra state in 2011, allegedly by members of the "oil mafia," according to news accounts.

Shankar is survived by his wife, according to news accounts.