A senior journalist with national hindi daily Rajdeo Ranjan was killed in Siwan on Friday by some unidentified assailants. According to sources, he was hit on the head and neck from point blank range. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.
According to the police, the motive behind murder is not clear as he had no personal enmity with anyone.
The police, however, on the basis of the eyewitness account, said that “motorcycle-borne criminals killed him on the streets of Siwan”.
Later in the evening after the incident, RJD chief Lalu Yadav who was campaigning for the by-election in the nearby locality visited his house.
Meanwhile, BJP senior leader and former deputy chief minister condemned the killing and demanded a speedy investigation into the incident. Mounting an attack on the chief minister, Hindustani Awami Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said, “Everyday people are being killed and Nitish Kumar keeps talking about good governance. Law and order system has completely failed in Bihar”.
The incident has sparked protests by mediapersons, triggering a shutdown in the areas.
Mr Rajdeo Ranjan, Siwan district chief of Hindi daily Hindustan, was fired at in Siwan district when he was going on his motorcycle near the fruit market on Station Road under Town police station at around 7:45 pm, superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar Sah said. Ranjan has been writing for a long time against law-breakers of the area.
Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, Akhilesh Pratap Singh (35), a journalist of a news channel, was gunned down by unidentified people at Dewaria in Chatra district, the police said.
Mr Singh was attacked near panchayat secretariat of the village on Thursday night, a police official said. A bandh was observed in Chatra town in protest against the killing.
