Ten days after he went missing, the body of a journalist based in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district was found on Sunday in a river.
While the family has alleged foul play, police said Rajeev Pratap met with an accident, after which his car fell into the river. The car was fished out on September 19, but the body was likely swept away and was found on Sunday at Joshiyara Barrage, said Superintendent of Police Sarita Dobhal.
“The family has levelled allegations regarding his death, and we are waiting for the postmortem report to confirm the cause of death. Prima facie, his car fell into a gorge and into the river, which had swelled during the time of the incident. We had found CCTV footage from a few minutes before the incident, showing him alone in the car,” the SP said.
Pratap’s wife, Muskan, had said earlier that she had talked to him around 11 pm on the day he went missing, after which he was unavailable. “He was telling me that he was feeling anxious after his reports on a hospital and a school (which he had uploaded on his YouTube channel, Delhi Uttarakhand Live). He said that many people were calling him, threatening to kill him if the videos were not taken down. At 11.50, I sent a message, and it went undelivered. He was abducted by someone. I am sure he did not just fall off the road,” she had alleged.
Police said that 36-year-old Pratap, an IIMC alumnus, was seen sitting alone in the Alto car near the bus stop on September 18, around 11.20 pm. “The next day, the car was found in a mangled condition in the Bhagirathi River near Gangori. Following this, the family members filed a missing persons report. The SDRF and police retrieved the car from the river. During inspection in the presence of family members, one slipper was found inside the car. On Sunday, a body was found in the river at Joshiyara Barrage. The body was shown to the family members, who identified it as that of the missing Rajeev Pratap. A postmortem has been carried out,” an official police statement said.
The family has alleged that he was being intimidated for a story on the district hospital in Uttarkashi, which he uploaded on his YouTube channel on September 16. The family lodged a missing person complaint, saying that he left towards Gangori-Bhatwari, and since then, had gone missing.
“Rajeev Pratap is a well-known journalist from Uttarkashi who runs a channel called Delhi Uttarakhand Live. Many people in the area hold enmity against him. Therefore, it is requested that you kindly help in tracing Rajeev Pratap. We fear that some untoward incident may have happened. Please help us in locating him at the earliest,” said the complaint, on which an FIR has been registered under BNS sections pertaining to abduction at the Uttarkashi Kotwali police station.
