Journalist shot dead in UP

A journalist of a leading Hindi daily died after unidentified bike-borne assailants pumped several bullets into him in a market in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Rural district, police said.

The incident took place in the Bilhaur area where the assailants approached Naveen Gupta, opened indiscriminate fire at him and fled before anyone could react.

The journalist was rushed to a nearby medical facility but declared dead by doctors there.

Gupta worked for Hindustan as its local reporter from Bilhaur, a suburb of Kanpur.

Police said they were trying to ascertain the reasons behind the killing.

Scribes have aired their anger and anguish at the murder.

This is the second killing of a journalist in the state in just over a month. In October, RSS activist and Dainik Jagran stringer Rajesh Mishra was shot dead in the state's Ghazipur district.

--IANS

md/him/vd