Journalist shot by bike-borne assailants in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur, four detained

Lucknow: Unidentified assailants fatally shot a journalist, associated with a leading Hindi daily, on the Lucknow-Delhi National Highway in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district.

According to the police sources, the scribe, identified as Raghavendra Bajpai, who worked for a national Hindi daily, was sprayed with bullets near Hempur in the district by bike borne assailants on Saturday evening while he was on his way back home.

The scribe was rushed to the district hospital where the doctors declared him dead.

Four persons, including some revenue officials, were detained in this connection, sources said. The motive behind the killing is yet to be ascertained.

Police said that four teams were formed to trace the killers, who managed to make good their escape after perpetrating the crime. Police said that they were examining the CCTV footage to ascertain the identity of the culprits.

The killing triggered outrage among the scribes, who demanded adequate compensation to the bereaved family and stern punishment to the killers.

Leaders of various political parties made a beeline to Bajpai’s home at Maholi in the district. UP Congress president Ajai Rai met the family of the scribe on Sunday and assured all help to them. Rai said that law and order had collapsed in the state.

The family agreed to perform the last rites of the scribe after local BJP MLA Shashank Trivedi assured them that their demand for financial compensation and a government job for his wife would be sympathetically considered.