Lucknow 

The broad-day light murder of a young journalist in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district two days ago took a new turn Tuesday as it emerged that land and sand mafia in the Ganga basin region could be behind the scribe's murder.  

Name of a woman bahubali — Divya Tripathi — has cropped up in the FIR filed in the case. The scribe's family and employer both claimed that the deceased had written some reports against her.

Tripathi is allegedly associated with a Hindutva outfit and has been accused in land grab and sand mining cases. 

Shubham Mani Tripathi (25), who worked with a Kanpur-based newspaper Kampu mail and got married recently, was shot by unidentified persons while he was returning home with his friend on a bike. Tripathi was rushed to hospital in Kanpur, where he died. 

Both the shooters have been arrested and now the cops have launched searches for Tripathi, who is allegedly absconding.

"Shubham was our Unnao correspondent based in Unnao for the past seven months. He used to send news regarding crimes and land mafias. Recently, he had had some arguments with land grabbers and expressed fear that he might be killed by them. Divya Awasthi, a lady who deals with land businesses and is politically active, is said to be involved in the murder. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against her," Ritesh Shukla, bureau chief of ‘Kampu Mail’ told the media. 

According to Shukla, the deceased journalist had expressed concern on Facebook that he could be killed, but the police did not take him seriously. 

Dhirendra Mani Tripathi, Shubham's uncle, told local media, “There is some government land that Divya Awasthi wanted to take possession of. He exposed the matter and she could not do that. This was the reason Shubham was killed by her goons. They had attacked Shubham at his house last year after he exposed her, and now have killed him.”