New Delhi, September 2, 2025—Indian authorities should appeal the acquittal of three men accused of the 2016 murder of journalist Rajdev Ranjan, including the police’s suspected mastermind, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday, following an August 30 ruling in which three other men were found guilty.
“The Bihar state government and federal investigators must continue seeking justice for Rajdev Ranjan and ensure his family is protected,” said Kunāl Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “The acquittal of three suspects due to lack of evidence, after seven years of court proceedings, sends a dangerous message of impunity to those who use violence to silence journalists.”
A special court in India’s eastern Bihar state, overseen by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s federal crime agency, dismissed murder charges against three men, including prime suspect Laddan Mian, citing a lack of evidence.
Mian, who has always maintained his innocence, was believed by the police to be a close associate of the late Mohammad Shahabuddin, an influential politician in Bihar’s Siwan district who was also named in a charge sheet in relation to the murder. Shahabuddin died of COVID-19 in 2021 while serving a life sentence for a separate murder case.
The court found three other co-accused, Vijay Kumar Gupta, Sonu Kumar Gupta, and Rohit Kumar Soni, guilty for their roles in Ranjan’s shooting, following a drawn-out trial that began in 2018. A seventh suspect, a juvenile at the time, is facing a separate trial.
Ranjan, the Siwan bureau chief of Hindustan, one of India’s largest Hindi-language dailies, was shot dead near a railway station on May 13, 2016, while returning home from work. He had reported extensively on crime and politics in the district, including the nexus between local criminal networks and political power.
Rajesh Dubey, a senior special public prosecutor for the CBI, told CPJ the agency would challenge the acquittals in a higher court once sentencing finished and a written judgment was provided.
Ranjan’s widow, Asha Devi, told CPJ that the family feared harassment following the acquittals. “I am in a state of shock and deeply disappointed by the verdict,” she said.
India ranked 13th on CPJ’s 2024 Global Impunity Index, which measures where murderers of journalists are most likely to go free.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.