Five held for murderous attack on Ghaziabad journalist

Five persons involved in the April 8 murderous attack on Sahara Samay TV journalist Anuj Chaudhary in Ghaziabad have been arrested, police said on Tuesday.

Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna told the media here that Vishal, Yogendra alias Babli, Bobby and Vikas were arrested from Kamla Nehru Nagar in Ghaziabad on Monday following a tip-off.

Police said the accused revealed during questioning that shooters were engaged to kill Anuj Chaudhary.

Police claimed that the fifth accused -- shooter Rohit Yadav of Kasganj -- was arrested following a brief shootout in which Inspector Vinod Pandey of Sihani Gate police station received a bullet injury in his right hand and Rohit was injured in the leg.

Rohit had confessed to his involvement in the attack on Anuj Chaudhary, police added.

Six firearms were seized from the arrested persons, including a .32 bore pistol snatched from Anuj Chaudhary; a .315 bore countrymade pistol and live cartridges; a .32 bore pistol, a .12 bore countrymade gun, two .30 bore pistols; and a motorcycle.

Rohit allegedly confessed that he was contracted for Rs 7 lakh to kill the journalist and was paid Rs 5 lakh in advance.

Police said Shekhar -- the main conspirator in the attack -- was involved in 16 heinous crimes, and Vishal, Bobby and Rohit in three each.

Deepak Tomar, a brother-in-law of Anuj Chaudhary, had named nine persons in his police complaint, including Shekhar, son of Jeet Singh.

Additional Director General of Police Prashant Kumar has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for the police team that cracked the case. The SSP announced a reward of Rs 5,000.

On April 8, four-five unidentified criminals riding two-wheelers had gone to Sahara Samay Hindi news channel journalist Anuj Chaudhary's house in Rajapur locality under the Kavi Nagar police station jurisdiction around 6.15 p.m. and fired six shots at him while he was standing at his house's entrance.

While two bullets hit him in the abdomen, two hit him in the right arm. Doctors attending on him then said his condition was "critical". Chaudhary is now recovering fast.

Journalists took out a procession on April 12 to protest against the attack and demanded the suspension of Kavi Nagar SHO Samarjit Singh for allegedly failing to provide security to the journalist.

--IANS

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