Two brothers, one of them a journalist with a prominent Hindi daily, were shot dead in Saharanpur on Sunday morning following a heated argument over disposal of cow dung.

The incident was reported from Madhav Nagar locality under Kotwali police station of Saharanpur.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the killing of the journalist and his brother and directed the district police to arrest the assailants at the earliest. He also announced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin to both the deceased.

As per reports, journalist Ashish (23) and his younger brother were shot dead by their neighbour Mahipal Saini and his son who run a dairy.

“Both the families often fought over disposal of cow dung that dairy owner Mahipal Saini and his son Gaurav used to dump in the locality. Ashish opposed this and on a number of occasions he had also complained to the district administration about it. This had annoyed Mahipal and Gaurav and they picked up a fight with Ashish on Sunday morning. Later, both barged into the house of the journalist and opened fire on him. To save Ashish, his brother came forward and he also was shot at from close range. Both the assailants then fled the scene,” the police said.

The family members of the victims and their neighbours rushed both to hospital where both were pronounced brought dead.

“The bullets had pierced their hearts leading to profuse bleeding,” the police said, adding that the victims also had other firearm injuries on their limbs.

“The autopsy will reveal the number of wounds both the victims suffered,” the police said.

Senior Superintendent of Police of Saharanpur Dinesh Kumar P said the police had detained two women members of the assailant’s family.

“Both these women are named in the murder case which took place around 9:30 am on Sunday. Six persons have been named but the prime accused are yet to be arrested. The assailants opened 4-5 rounds of fire,” he said.  

Senior police officials were on the spot while irate locals were holding protest over the incident.

“SSP of Saharanpur has been directed to initiate the strongest action. The state government stands by the bereaved family in this moment of grief,” the official spokesperson of the Chief Minister said here.

The slain journalist was the only earning member of his family and his wife is pregnant. His father had died a few years back. His younger brother was also killed in the incident.