Rajesh Mishra was killed in Ghazipur district; two suspects identified

A journalist with the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran and member of the RSS Rajesh Mishra was shot dead in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. His brother was also shot at and critically injured.

Unidentified motorbike-borne assailants fired several rounds at Mishra while he was sitting at a building materials shop run by his family at the Brahmanpura Chauraha at Karanda in Ghazipur at 7 a.m.

The police said there were three assailants, while locals spoke of only two men, one of whom was masked.

Mr. Mishra, 38, worked as a block-level stringer with Dainik Jagran and was also a block in-charge of the RSS. His brother, Amitabh Mishra, was rushed to the district hospital in Ghazipur and then referred to a hospital in Varanasi.

Brother also injured

“On hearing the sound of bullets, Mr. Amitabh Mishra, who was working in the fields behind the shop, came to his brother’s rescue. The assailants shot at him too and fled the spot,” a police spokesperson said.

Following the incident, protesters blocked the roads and attacked vehicles. The police later intervened to pacify the crowd and restore traffic. While the motive for the attack is not known, the police suspect that it could be the result of personal enmity.

“Suspected enmity is probably the reason...two suspects identified...arrest should happen soon,” said Anand Kumar, Additional Director General-Law and Order. He said the police had already found clues.

Family members and colleagues believe the murder could be due to Rajesh Mishra’s RSS background or journalistic work. Mishra had recently organised a week-long RSS camp in Karanda. Manoj, a friend of the victim and fellow RSS worker, also suspects that Mishra’s journalistic work had sparked the attack. “Some people were irritated by his work. Writing news against the wrong people became a cause for his death,” Manoj said.

The content of Rajesh Mishra’s reports or journalistic work could not be independently verified, however.