New Delhi: A journalist affiliated with a Hindi daily in Uttar Pradesh was fatally shot on the Sitapur-Delhi Highway, near the Hempur railway crossing in Sitapur’s Imalia Sultanpur police station area.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the victim, Raghvendra Bajpai, aged 35, had been receiving threatening phone calls before his death. Bajpai was traveling home on his motorcycle when two assailants, also on a motorcycle, shot him at close range.

Praveen Ranjan Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police in Sitapur, stated that Bajpai sustained three gunshot wounds to the shoulder and chest. The attackers fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

In response to the incident, the police have initiated evidence collection and sealed district borders to prevent the attackers’ escape. Efforts to trace the call records and other legal procedures are also in progress, according to ASP Singh.

Local residents rushed Bajpai to a nearby hospital, where medical personnel pronounced him dead upon arrival. Family members reported that Bajpai had been receiving threatening calls prior to the attack.

Bajpai’s body has been sent for a post-mortem examination as part of the ongoing investigation.