Journalist shot dead in Jashore

A journalist was shot dead by miscreants in Jashore's Manirampur upazila on Monday evening.

The deceased is Rana Pratap Bairagi, 38, of Arua village in Keshabpur upazila. He ran an ice factory at Kopalia Bazar in Manirampur. Rana was the acting editor of a Narail-based newspaper, BD Khabar.

Manirampur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Rajiullah Khan said that assailants fled the scene immediately after shooting Rana in the head multiple times around 6:30pm in the Kopalia Bazar area.

Monoharpur union parishad chairman Akhtar Faruk said, "This [Monday] evening, several men called him [Rana] out of the factory. They shot him in the head at point-blank range and fled."

A witness said the attackers arrived on a motorcycle and called Rana out of his factory, and took him to a nearby alley. "Following a brief altercation, they fired several shots at him, killing him on the spot."

The OC said police rushed to the spot after receiving information, recovered the body and sent it to Jashore General Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Initially, it is being suspected that the killing may have stemmed from a business-related dispute, he added.