Another incident of death of a journalist surfaced in the Uttar Pradesh as a 42-year-old journalist has been shot dead at Khetna village in Fefna area of Ballia district on Monday evening.
According to the Police, Ratan Singh, who was working for a Hindi news channel, was beaten up brutally before he was shot dead inside the village head’s residence.
The scene of the crime is merely 700 metres from the victim’s house.
“A case has been registered against 10 accused out of whom 6 people have been arrested so far. Further investigation underway,” Additional SP, Ballia told.
His family had been involved in a property dispute with the accused over a house in his village for the last few years.
But the victim’s father Binod Singh has another version as he contended that there was no property dispute and accused the Police of spinning the story.
“There was no property dispute. Please go to the spot and see for yourself. The police is spinning the story,” he said.
As per the police, the journalist had gone to his village last evening over the matter when he was chased and shot dead.
“The accused had built a wall around the property. The accused had also placed a haystack on the land to stake claim, which was removed by the journalist. A fight broke out over the matter and the journalist was attacked. He died on the spot. Police have arrested three accused. Property dispute and old enmity are believed to be the reasons behind the attack,” told Subhash Dubey, Deputy Inspector General, Azamgarh Range.
“I must state again the attack had nothing to do with the fact the man was a journalist,” he added.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the journalist.
Last month, a UP Journalist Vikram Joshi, was shot in head by armed assailants in front of his children near his residence in Vijay Nagar, Ghaziabad. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Joshi was attacked when he was returning from his sister’s house along with his two daughters on a motorbike on Monday night at around 10.30 pm. He had suffered a bullet injury on his head after assailants opened fire at him near his residence, which got captured in CCTV camera.
READ: UP journalist shot in head in front of daughters dies; Opposition slams ‘goondaraj’