The victim has been identified as Raghavendra Bajpai, was a regional reporter for a Hindi daily and he reportedly received a call before he left home for the day.
A journalist in Uttar Pradesh was shot dead by unidentified assailants on the Sitapur-Delhi National Highway on Saturday. The victim has been identified as Raghavendra Bajpai, was a regional reporter for a Hindi daily and he reportedly received a call before he left home for the day.
Bajpai was travelling on his bike and the assailants were also on another vehicle and they rammed into him before shooting him thrice, as per reports.
The attack occurred on the overbridge near the Hempur railway crossing, within the Imalia Sultanpur police station area.
With the assistance of local residents, police transported Bajpai to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
According to the police, the assailants opened fire on Raghvendra Bajpai (35) while he was commuting on his motorcycle.
"Three bullets struck him in the shoulder and chest. The assailants then fled the scene on their motorcycle," said Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sitapur, Praveen Ranjan Singh.
"Evidence collection has commenced and the district borders have been sealed to apprehend the perpetrators. Call details and other legal proceedings are underway," ASP Singh said.
The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, he added.
The police reportedly said, “Four teams have been formed to arrest the accused. Police teams from Maholi, Imaliya, and Kotwali, along with the surveillance and SOG teams, have been deployed to investigate and identify the accused.”
Bajpai's family told media outlets that he had received threatening phone calls in recent days.
India Today in a report stated that the 35-year-old journalist had left his home on Saturday afternoon after receiving a phone call.
And only few Shortly after, at around 3:15 pm, he was killed on the highway.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress in a post on X blamed the 'jungle raaj' in the state for such crimes.
They wrote, "In Sitapur, miscreants shot and killed a journalist. The 'jungle raj' prevailing in the state takes someone's life every day and those in power do not care."
A 33-year-old journalist who had gone missing two days ago was found dead in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on January 3.
The body of Mukesh Chandrakar was recovered from a septic tank on the property belonging to contractor Suresh Chandrakar at Chattanpara Basti in Bijapur town.
As per latest reports, a road construction contractor Suresh Chandrakar, was identified and arrested as the prime accused in the murder case and the SIT formed to probe the incident claimed that he had allegedly hatched a conspiracy to kill him four to five days before the incident.