Raghvendra Bajpai, a 35-year-old reporter for the Hindi-language daily Dainik Jagran, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants on March 8, 2025, while traveling on a highway in Sitapur district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India.
On April 10, Sitapur police announced the arrest of three suspects, including a Hindu temple priest who police said confessed to orchestrating the killing. Police alleged that the priest contracted two hitmen through the other arrested suspects to carry out the murder. As of early June 2025, the two suspected hitmen had been identified but remained at large.
Police said that the murder may have been in retaliation for Bajpai having witnessed the accused priest sexually abusing a minor boy on the temple premises.
However, Bajpai’s family said they believe he was targeted over his reporting on paddy procurement irregularities and stamp duty evasion. On March 9, Dainik Jagran published a report outlining the investigative stories on corruption and irregularities in government schemes that Bajpai pursued prior to his killing.
Investigating Officer Praveen Ranjan Singh told CPJ that the investigation was ongoing and that it was still unclear whether the murder was linked to Bajpai’s journalistic work. He added that a chargesheet has not yet been filed.
Police are investigating Bajpai’s death as a murder, which would carry a maximum penalty of death, as well as accusations of wrongful restraint.