Despite instructions from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to solve the case at the earliest, the Uttar Pradesh police is yet to find any concrete clues in the murder of Kanpur journalist Naveen Gupta.
Mr. Gupta, who contributed to the Hindi daily Hindustan , was shot dead by 2-3 assailants who fired at him when he was coming out of the toilet of his hosiery shop in Bilhaur on November 30.
The police have so far been only able to draw a sketch of one of the suspects based on the description of a bystander who was identified through CCTV footage.
According to the sketch, the suspect is 28-30 years old and 5 feet 6 inches in height.
The police have so far found no evidence that the murder could be motivated by the journalist’s professional work.
“It is confirmed that it had nothing to do with journalism. We are exploring several personal aspects. But till we get confirmation, we cannot say anything about the reason for the murder,” Bilhaur Circle Officer Shubodh Kumar Jaiswal told The Hindu .
The police is also yet to nab the main suspects in the murder of another journalist, Rajesh Mishra, who was gunned down by unidentified motorbike-borne assailants at his family shop in Karanda in the Ghazipur district on October 21. Apart from being a block-level stringer with the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran , Mr. Mishra was also a worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
His brother, Amitabh Mishra, was also shot at and critically injured in the attack.
While Mr. Mishra’s family members and colleagues claimed that the murder could be due to his RSS background or journalistic work, the police investigation so far has hinted at personal enmity.
The police found some success in the case on Sunday after three members of the gang suspected of the murder were arrested.
Working on a tip-off, police teams from the Karanda and Nandganj police stations and the crime branch intercepted six suspects on motorbikes near the Chakeri crossing in Ghazipur.
One of the groups managed to escape after firing at the police team, but the other three were nabbed, a police spokesperson said.
The arrested persons were identified as Ajit Yadav and Jhanku Yadav from Bhabua in Bihar, and Suni Yadav from Chandauli, which adjoins Ghazipur.
“On questioning, the accused said they had committed the murder on the orders of Raju Yadav, to whose gang they belonged. Raju Yadav had animosity towards the victim and wanted to maintain his terror in the region,” said the Ghazipur Police in a statement.
The police said they were on the heels of Raju Yadav and his aides, Gowardhan Yadav and Pawan Yadav, who were allegedly among the shooters.
