Guwahati, March 24: The executive editor of a vernacular daily, Aji, Anil Mazumdar, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in front of his Rajgarh residence in the city around 10pm tonight.

Police said a group of three or four youths, who were waiting near Mazumdar’s residence, fired at him from point blank range as he was alighting from his car, a white Honda City.

Five bullets pierced his chest and stomach.

Mazumdar, in his forties, was rushed to International Hospital, where he was declared dead.

He is survived by his wife Malabika Kalita Mazumdar and two daughters.

Deputy inspector-general of police (central western range) G.P. Singh said according to preliminary investigations, at least one assailant fired indiscriminately from a small arm — suspected to be a 9mm pistol.

Two mobile phones, a pair of spectacles and a gold chain were recovered from the site.

The editor’s driver, Ramen Kalita, who is the sole witness to the incident, has been taken into custody for interrogation, the official said.

An employee of Aji, Hiren Deka, said Mazumdar was in his Ulubari office till 9.45pm and left after releasing the first edition of the newspaper.

“Sir was a very brave journalist and never compromised on journalistic ethics. I cannot believe that he died like this,” he said.

Mazumdar began his career as a journalist in the nineties as a part-time correspondent of Pratidin from Nalbari. He later went on to work for several newspapers and also has a few books to his name.

On receiving the news of Mazumdar’s death, chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who is in Cachar, called up the director-general of police, G.M. Srivastava, and directed him to do everything possible to apprehend the assailants.

The police chief, who visited the hospital, said investigations were on, but he refused to speculate on the possible identity of the assailants.

“We have to go thorough all aspects (of the case) before we can come to any conclusion based on evidence,” he said.

Debo Kumar Bora, a close aide of the chief minister, said Gogoi has directed the police chief to come up with some detail by tomorrow morning.

Two teams of forensic experts and CID officials visited the spot of assasination for investigation.

As the news of Mazumdar’s death spread, politicians and well-wishers rushed to International Hospital.

Among those present were health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, revenue minister Bhumidhar Barman, east Guwahati MLA Robin Bordoloi and former Union minister and BJP leader Bijoya Chakarborty.