Journalist shot dead by Tripura State Rifles jawan; third scribe in 2 months

Agartala: A journalist working with a Bengali newspaper was shot dead on Tuesday allegedly by a constable of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) following an altercation, police said.

The scribe, Sudip Datta Bhaumick, was gunned down around 2 pm inside the headquarters of the 2nd battalion of TSR at R K Nagar near here, West Tripura SP Abhijit Saptarshi said.

"After reaching the spot, we found the journalist lying in a pool of blood. We took him to G B Hospital in Agartala where the doctors declared him brought dead," Saptarshi said.

Bhaumick, 48, was a reporter of 'Syandan Patrika'. One TSR constable has been arrested in this connection, the SP said.

The killing comes weeks after a TV journalist was killed in West Tripura. On September 20, a journalist of a local television channel was killed at Mandai in the same district when he went to cover an agitation by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT).

Another journalist, Gauri Lankesh, was shot dead point blank outside her residence on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Karnataka on September 6, triggering protests in many parts of the country.

It was said Lankesh was targetted for her work against right-wing Hindu extremism.