Panic prevailed at Hospital Road in Sarangpur of Rajgarh district after three bike riders shot a local journalist dead late in the evening on Tuesday.
Nine-year-old son of the deceased was with him at the time of incident.
The deceased, identified as Salman Khan (35), was sitting on a scooty near the hospital, when three people appeared at the spot and shot him near his temple.
On hearing the gunshot, a huge crowd gathered at the spot. The police were immediately informed and a police team reached the spot. The injured was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead, the police were told that the bike riders shot Salman as soon as they spotted him. Salman was also attacked last year.
The family said that the funeral prayers will be held after Zohar prayers at 2 pm on Wednesday. After this, Salman will be buried in the cemetery.
The police reached the spot and took the injured to the hospital where the doctor declared him dead. The CCTV cameras installed around the spot are being scanned.
At the time of the shooting, SDOP Arvind Singh was in his car and was nearly 50 yards away from the spot but before he could reach, the bike riders had already escaped the spot. The police have investigated the CCTV footage of the surrounding area.
Salman had been working for a daily newspaper and YouTube channel published from Indore for a long time.
According to the victim's family, the case is related to old enmity. Police station in-charge Akanksha Hada said that the police checked the CCTV footage of medical and other shops around the spot throughout the night, the attackers came from the old highway. After shooting, they turned towards Akodia Road from the next intersection and escaped from the spot.
Police station in-charge Akanksha Hada said that last year on February 9 2023, 5 miscreants attacked Salman with knife and sword due to mutual enmity. He was referred to Indore in critical condition. Salman had said that he was having a dispute with Shahrukh living in the city, due to which Shahrukh had beaten Salman's brother. After this, Salman had lodged an FIR against Shahrukh in this case.
Salman alleged that due to this dispute, Shahrukh had called youths from Bhopal for murder at that time. Salman was sitting and discussing with people in his newspaper office. At that time 4 to 5 people attacked him with knife and sword. Later the matter was settled.
Congress state president Jitu Patwari has targeted Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav by posting on X in the matter. Patwari wrote, Unbridled crime and fearless criminals are now targeting journalists as well. As the most unsuccessful Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh, your criminal silence has now become fatal.
