Only a day after the murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru, reports suggest that journalist Pankaj Mishra was shot at by two bike-borne persons in Bihar's Arwal. He is said to be critical
NDTV reports that Mishra says that the two men belonged to the Janata Dal (United). The police have said that one of the men, Kundan Mahto, has been arrested while his accomplice Ambika Mahto was absconding.
While Mishra works for a vernacular publication, Rashtriya Sahara, reports suggest that he also runs a help centre at a village in the state.
He was said to have been carrying Rs 2 Lakh with him, and was coming out of a bank when the attack happened.
The money is however safe.
The Indian Express reports SP Arwal, Dilip Kumar, as saying that the attack happened because of "personal eneminity."
Mishra was rushed to a hospital nearby after the incident.
The report in NDTV reported Mishra as saying that the accused were close to JD(U)'s Satyadeo Singh, and that Kundan Mahtao was the son of Singh's personal assistant.
In the aftermath of Gauri Lankesh's murder, HuffPost India a HuffPost India report had revealed with the help of data that journalists writing in Indian languages faced greater risks of attacks.
The report had said data compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists showed 40 Indian journalists were killed in targeted assassinations or in violence while on the job between 1992 and 2017, for confirmed motives. None of them who were killed in targeted assassinations worked for English publications.