Journalist abducted and shot at in Gwalior; hospitalised

A journalist associated with a regional news channel was abducted, beaten up severely and then shot at in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district on Saturday. He, however, managed to flee and is now undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The victim, identified as Shivam Arya, is resident of Hazira locality in Gwalior. He was reportedly abducted from his home at around 6 a.m. on Saturday.

The kidnappers took him to Shikarpura village and they confined him in a room situated on a hill. They, according to sources, forced him to consume alcohol.

From Shikarpura, kidnappers drive him to Dabra, a tehsil under Gwalior district located adjacent to Datia district, where he was subjected to further physical assault and abuse.

Later, in the afternoon, one of the kidnappers made a video call to an unknown person. The kidnappers then proceeded to shoot Arya, with the first bullet grazing his temple while second shot struck his thigh. However, while the the kidnapper was reloading the firearm for another round, Arya gathered courage to push one of them aside and ran away from the spot.

After fleeing and covering around one kilometer, he narrated the entire story to a local person. Soon the police was alerted and the journalist was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

According to police, a bullet lodged in his skull was surgically removed and his condition  is said to be stable.

Police said that Arya's wife had previously filed a case against one of the young men allegedly involved in the assault. Police suspect that the attackers may have been seeking revenge or attempting to extort money from the journalist.

"We have launched an investigation into the matter, and as of now, three suspects have been identified. We are trying to determine the motive behind the crime," said Gwalior SP Rajesh Chandel.