Hindi novelist Kashi Nath Singh on Friday announced that he would be returning his Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the Dadri lynching incident and the killing of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi. Singh had in 2011 received the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel 'Rehan par Ragghu'. He is best known for his novel 'Kashi Ka Assi' -- an adaptation of which has inspired the Bollywood film Mohalla Assi.

Singh told reporters that "freedom of expression" in the country is being curbed and "the political leadership was becoming intolerant of the protest by the literary fraternity".