The three employees of  the Bengali language daily, Dainik Ganadoot, were killed during a frenzy attack on the newspaper’s office in Agartala, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Tripura.

Sources in the Tripura Journalists’ Union (TJU) inform the IFJ that three masked assailants made a forced entry into the office of the newspaper at around 3 p.m., and made their way up to the first floor of the building, where the editor, Sushil Choudhary lives. While searching for the editor, the assailants ran into Ranjit Choudhary, manager of the newspaper and repeatedly stabbed him, in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

On their way out of the building, the attackers stabbed Sujit Bhattacharjee, a proof-reader for the newspaper, who just happened to be in their way. Balaram Ghosh, a driver with the newspaper, who arrived at the scene on hearing the commotion, was also stabbed repeatedly.All three reportedly died on the spot.

It is believed that the three attackers were contract killers and that the target was editor Sushil Choudhary.