In a sensational killing, the district secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jaunpur, Pramod Yadav, was shot dead by unknown assailants on Thursday morning.

The attack at Bodhapur turn under Baksa police station left Yadav critically injured. He was swiftly transported to the district hospital where he was pronounced dead by the doctors.

Preliminary reports suggest that there were three assailants and they came on a motorcycle. The authorities have initiated a thorough investigation into the killing to apprehend the assailants and determine the motive behind the attack.

Superintendent of Police Dr Ajay Pal Sharma said that a police team had been deployed to arrest the assailants.

The police are trying to ascertain the identities of the assailants with the help of footage of CCTV cameras installed in the nearby areas.

According to reports, Pramod Yadav of Bodhapur village in Sikrara police station area, was standing outside his house on Thursday morning when the three motorcycle-borne assailants, who had come to meet him on the pretext of giving him a wedding invite, fired three shots and fled the scene. Yadav was shifted to hospital but he died on the way.

Pramod Yadav, a former district president of BJP’s Kisan Morcha, had contested the 2012 assembly election from the Malhani seat against mafia-turned-politician Dhananjay Singh’s wife Jagriti but had lost. Samajwadi Party’s Paras Nath Yadav had won the election while Jagriti Singh was at second position. At present he was the district general secretary of the BJP.

Pramod Yadav was killed just a day after Dhananjay Singh was awarded seven years’ imprisonment in another case by a court in Jaunpur.

Pramod Yadav’s father Rajbali Yadav was also shot dead in 1980. He was associated with Jan Sangh. He had come to Moorkatwa with a friend from the city in light rain in the evening and after leaving the motorcycle was walking to his home when the assailant shot him dead. He had once contested election from Rari assembly on Jan Sangh ticket but had lost.