Uttar Pradesh scribe killers still at large, police yet to arrest bike-borne assailants

Uttar Pradesh scribe killers still at large, police yet to arrest bike-borne assailants

Raghvendra Bajpai’s family mourns his death in Sitapur on Saturday

The murder of Raghvendra Bajpai, the local correspondent of a Hindi newspaper in Sitapur who was shot dead on a highway on Saturday, was a well-planned conspiracy and the killers had precise information about the victim’s whereabouts, police sources said on Sunday.

The police are yet to nab the bike-borne assailants who opened fire on Bajpai on the overbridge near the Hempur railway crossing while he was on his way to Imaliya Sultanpur from his home in Vikas Nagar.

A family member of Bajpai told reporters on the condition of anonymity that he had recently reported on irregularities in paddy procurement from government warehouses by middlemen and illegal activities of the land mafia.

“He had found irregularities in the purchase of paddy at the government’s minimum support price booths and later found out that those involved in the crime had also grabbed some private and government land. He had also written about a stamp duty scam at the land registry office. Since then, he had been receiving threats. We have told the police about it,” Bajpai’s cousin said.

The cousin said Bajpai had left home after receiving a phone call.

According to eyewitnesses, the assailants had hit Bajpai’s bike first and then fired three bullets at him.

Aman Singh, the circle officer of Sitapur, said Bajpai had tried to run away but took a bullet in his back. “The killers then approached him and pumped a bullet into his head,” he said.

With the assistance of locals, the police rushed Bajpai to a nearby hospital where the doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Singh said CCTV footage recovered from a sweet shop near the crime spot was being analysed.

Prashant Kumar, inspector-general of the Lucknow range, said a team had been constituted and the killers would be arrested soon.

“We are probing the case from every possible angle and will get to the killers soon,” he said.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Rai, who met the family members of the victim on Sunday, said: “I passed through the crime site while coming to Sitapur from Lucknow and realised that the murder was executed in a crowded area of the highway. It proves that there is a complete jungle raj in the state. The reason for the murder is also clear. He was a whistleblower and so he was silenced.”

Courtesy: Telegraphindia

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