GUJRAT, Aug 2: A journalist was shot dead by three assailants along the GT Road in front of the Saddar police station in Lalamusa on Monday night. He was a former president of the Lalamusa press club.

Reports said Mian Khalid Mahmood, who also ran a real estate centre in Lalamusa, was returning home by a two-wheeler around 11pm when three motorcyclists chased him. They opened fire on Mian Khalid who suffered wounds in the back and fell near an Edhi centre.

He, however, got up and tried to save himself by running across the road but the armed men again targeted at him, killing him on the spot. They took away the deceased’s shirt and cell phone.

Mian Khalid remained associated with local newspapers and was the president of the Lalamusa Press Club for more than five years. He was planning to take out his own local daily from Aug 14 for which he had obtained declaration, people close to him said. The motive behind the killing could not, however, be ascertained.

The journalist-cum-businessmen married his cousin, who was a British national. However, the couple separated a few years ago as Mian divorced his wife. He wanted to take possession of his son from his former in-laws with whom he remained in litigation over the issue.

According to reports, he had carried several stories against the family of his ex-wife, mostly expatriates, revealing how the family got foreign nationalities through forged documents. He had also been in litigation with the embassies concerned over the same issue.

Mian Khalid contracted second marriage about two years ago with a woman, who was already married. She was the daughter of former Lalamusa municipality vice-chairman Sheikh Abdul Khalil. The woman contracted marriage with him allegedly against the will of her father and brothers.

It is learnt that the late Mian’s close friend Chaudhry Sajjad had contracted second marriage with a girl of nearby village 10 days ago and he (Mian) supported him wholeheartedly. He was riding Sajjad’s motorcycle at the time of incident.

Lalamusa city SHO Chaudhry Anwar claimed that they had been investigating the case on different angles.