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Updated: Oct 05, 2015 10:30 IST

A television journalist was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh, the third such killing in the state in four months.

Two men riding a motorcycle attacked 45-year-old Hermant Singh Yadav near Asawaria village under the jurisdiction of Dhanapur police station when he was on his way home late on Saturday evening, police said.

The men stopped Yadav, who too was on a motorcycle, and one of them engaged him in a conversation. The other then fired at him from point blank range.

Local residents rushed Yadav to the district hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. He was hit by at least two bullets.

Additional superintendent of police Jiya Lal Yadav said a case had been registered after a complaint from Yadav’s family. Teams were deployed to locate the assailants and arrest them.

Three special police teams have been formed to expedite the investigation, superintendent of police Amit Verma said. Police had received some inputs, he added.

Local residents said Yadav was an affable person who did not have enmity with anyone. Several public representatives visited the journalist’s family.

This was the third fatal attack on a journalist in four months in Uttar Pradesh.

On June 1, journalist Jagendra Singh was allegedly set on fire during a police raid on his house in Shahjahanpur. His family alleged police officials had set him on fire. Singh, who was in his fifties, succumbed to injuries on June 8.

An FIR was registered against six people, including a state minister who was reportedly angered by Singh’s Facebook posts about purported illegal mining activities and land grabbing.

In August, Sanjay Pathak, a part-time reporter for a Hindi daily in Bareilly district, was allegedly killed by two people.

Another scribe was nearly killed allegedly by the mining mafia in Chitrakoot district a few months ago. Before that, another journalist was tied to a motorcycle and dragged on the road in Pilibhit district by some men who were angered by his reports.

(With inputs from PTI)