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Two Journalists Shot Dead In Bihar And Jharkhand In 24 Hours

Two Journalists Shot Dead In Bihar And Jharkhand In 24 Hours
ANI/Twitter

Rajdeo Ranjan, a senior journalist from Siwan in Bihar, was shot dead on Friday by criminals near the railway station. Ranjan was the bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan in Siwan.

Hours before this incident, another journalist was shot dead in neighbouring Jharkhand.

Ranjan was reportedly shot point blank in the head. One of the bullets hit the 42-year-old journalist on the head and another on the neck. He was taken to the hospital where he was declared ‘brought dead’.

According to police, five motorcycle-borne criminals were waiting for Ranjan when he was walking to his home. They reportedly shot him twice.

The incident came on a day RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who was addressing an election rally in Panki assembly constituency in Palamu, visited a journalist’s home to mourn his killing by criminals a day before in Jharkhand.

On Thursday night, in Jharkhand's Chatra district, a journalist was shot dead by unidentified people. 35-year-old Akhilesh Pratap Singh worked for a local news channel, and was gunned down near the panchayat secretariat of his village.

Nine journalists were killed in India last year and the country ranked an abysmal 133 among 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems indifferent to these threats and problems, and there is no mechanism for protecting journalists,” the report said. “Instead, in a desire to increase control of media coverage, Modi envisages opening a journalism university run by former propaganda ministry officials,” it alleged.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.