Priest Got Journalist Killed To Hide Same-Sex Relations: Police

Thirty-three days after the murder of a Sitapur-based journalist on March 8, a priest and two of his accomplices were arrested for the crime on Thursday, the police said.

- HT Correspondent

LUCKNOW:

Through these accomplices, the priest had hired two professional killers to execute the crime, the police further said, adding that the killers are still at large.

Homosexual relations and other illegal activities of the priest and the fear that he (the priest) would be exposed led to the murder of Hindi daily journalist Raghvendra Bajpai, 36, in Sitapur's Maholi area, Sitapur superintendent of police (SP) Chakresh Mishra confirmed in a press conference in Sitapur on Thursday.

Two motorcycle-borne assailants had pumped four bullets into Bajpai after intercepting his bike near Hempur crossing on Lucknow-Delhi highway. The incident took place when the journalist was on his way from his house in Maholi to the local tehsil at around 3.15 pm on March 8.

The SP said the three people arrested were identified as Vikash Rathore alias Vikas Mishra, the priest, and his two alleged accomplices Nirmal Singh and Ahmad Gazi.