A journalist with Dainik Jagran was shot dead in his house in Bihar’s Araria district on Friday in yet another indicator of a sharp rise in crime in the state.

Four armed men on two bikes arrived at Vimal Kumar Yadav’s house at Prem Nagar under Raniganj police station around 5.15am and knocked on his door. As soon as Vimal opened the door, they rained bullets on him and fled the spot.

Vimal’s wife Puja Kumari heard gunshots and rushed to the door to find him lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

“A few people came in the morning and called him by his nickname Pappu bhaiyya. He went and opened the door. I heard the sound of firing and rushed to see him lying injured on the ground. He told me that he had been shot,” Puja told reporters.

Vimal’s elder brother was murdered in 2019 and he was the main witness in the case that is being heard in court.

“Vimal was killed at his residence. At least four miscreants had come and fired at him. The bullets hit him in the chest. The incident is the fallout of enmity. We have identified the persons involved in the murder. They are from Raniganj and we will arrest them soon,” Araria superintendent of police Ashok Kumar Singh told The Telegraph.