A senior journalist in Bihar and a TV news reporter in Jharkhand were shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Friday. Journalist Rajdeo Ranjan — the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan — was shot dead by criminals near the railway station around 8pm.
One of the bullets hit 42-year-old Ranjan on the head and another on the neck. He was taken to the Sadar hospital where he was declared “brought dead”.
According to police, five bike-borne criminals were waiting for Ranjan, who was walking down the road to his home.
Siwan is the stronghold of former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is serving a life term in jail for the abduction and murder of two people in 2004. He is still learnt to exert considerable influence in the area.
The spate of high profile murders has shaken the Government. The Bihar Government and its police machinery were under the severe attack for Aditya Sachdeva’s murder by the son of a lawmaker of ruling party in Gaya.
In Jharkhand, Akhilesh Pratap Singh (35), a journalist of a TV news channel, was gunned down by unidentified people at Dewaria in Chatra district, police said.
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.
A delegation of journalists met Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Anjani Kumar Jha and demanded adequate compensation to the family of the victim.