NEW DELHI: Gunmen shot dead two journalists in 24 hours in separate incidents in eastern India, police and local reports said Saturday, the latest media killing in Asia’s deadliest country for reporters.
Rajdeo Ranjan, the local bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan, was traveling on his motorcycle late Friday in Bihar state when a group of unknown assailants shot him five times.
“He was shot from very close range. We rushed him to a hospital where he was declared dead on arrival last night,” local Siwan district police chief, Saurabh Kumar Sah, said.
Sah said police were yet to ascertain the motive behind the killing, but two people have been detailed for questioning.
“We are focusing more on the professional angle since he may have written some things about certain people, which may have led to this,” he said.
Television footage showed villagers collecting firewood to prepare Ranjan’s funeral pyre.
Late on Thursday, television journalist Akhilesh Pratap Singh was also shot dead by unknown assailants as he returned home on a motorbike in restive Jharkhand state, which neighbors Bihar, according to local reports.
2 Indian reporters shot dead in less than 24 hours
2 Indian reporters shot dead in less than 24 hours
