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The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliates the National Union of Journalists (India) and the All India Newspaper Employees Federation (AINEF) call for investigation on the mysterious death of a 31-year-old Indian journalist Milita Dutta Mandal on Monday July 21.

According to reports, Mandal, a producer at Rajya Sabha TV, mysteriously fell to death from the balcony of her eighth floor flat at a housing society in Vaishali. Her neighbors heard her scream late night, discovered her body in the basement and rushed to hospital with her husband where she was declared brought-in dead.

Mandal lived with her husband, a three-year-old daughter and mother-in-law in the flat at the Mahagun Mosaic and the whole family was at home that night, according to police, who have not ruled out murder and has registered a criminal case for further investigation. The police stated that the balcony of her flat had been found broken thus indicating towards a murder.

Mandal had recently returned from a London trip with her husband, who worked with British Council Division. She joined Rajya Sabha TV in 2011 from a English news channel NDTV where she worked for more than five years as producer.

Purnachandra Rao, the vice-president of the AINEF, said: “The government should order the probe on the mysterious death of Mandal without delay.”

The NUJ(I) Secretary General Prasanna Mohanty said: “The delay in nailing the accused creates suspicion about the process of police investigation.

The IFJ said: “The circumstances under which the journalist died points towards a possible murder and we urge the Indian police to investigate the incident thoroughly.”