A senior journalist and Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan was shot dead on Friday, the latest in a string of crimes that underline the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar.

A group of five criminals on motorcycles shot two bullets at 42-year-old Rajdeo Ranjan when he was on his way home from office on a bike.

One of the bullets hit Ranjan on the head and another on the neck. He was taken to the hospital but was declared dead.

Ranjan worked for Hindustan -- a sister concern of Hindustan Times and one of Bihar’s largest circulating newspapers -- for 20 years. Police launched a manhunt to catch the killers. The motive behind the murder wasn’t known.