A 35-year-old year-old journalist, Naveen Gupta, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Kanpur’s Bilhaur on Thursday, police said.
Gupta, a contributor for the leading Hindi daily Hindustan, is survived by his wife and a four-year-old son.
Gupta was shot dead at about 7 pm when he had gone out to attend nature’s call behind his brother’s garments shop.
His brother and other people rushed out on hearing gun shots and found Gupta’s body lying in a pool of blood. Five bullets hit him on the face and chest, police added. The motive behind the murder was not immediately known.
Director general of police Sulkhan Singh has asked Kanpur police to solve the murder and arrest the perpetrators at the earliest.
The killing has brought the focus back on the perilous conditions journalists in India work in.
India was ranked a lowly 136 among 180 countries in the latest world press freedom rankings released in April with the dismal scenario blamed on “Modi’s nationalism” and growing “self-censorship” in the mainstream media.