Lucknow: A journalist – the local correspondent of a national daily – and RTI activist was shot dead by miscreants on the Sitapur-Delhi National Highway in Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday. locals spotted Raghvendra Bajpai (35) lying in a pool of blood, next to his motorcycle, on the highway and took him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
The police initially took it to be an accident and proceeded accordingly. However, the doctors reported that Bajpai had been shot thrice from close range. He had been hit in the shoulder and chest. The police then came to know that some men on a motorcycle had rammed into Bajpai’s vehicle on purpose. As he lost balance and fell on the road, they pumped three bullets into him and fled.
The incident occurred on an overbridge near the Hempur railway crossing. This is within the jurisdiction of the Imalia Sultanpur police station.
Bajpai’s family claimed that he had been receiving threat calls. According to a relative, he received a call on Saturday afternoon and left home in a hurry. He did not disclose his destination. The police are now checking his call records to try and identify the assailants.
The police will also try to find out if Bajpai had made any queries under the Right To Information (RTI) Act recently. In the past, RTI activists have been murdered for exposing corrupt practices by government departments and agencies.
“Evidence is being collected and call records are being checked. District borders have also been sealed to try and nab the criminals,” Praveen Ranjan Singh, additional superintendent of police, Sitapur, told journalists.
