Pratapgarh, May 2 (UNI) Veteran journalist Kripa Shankar Pandey, who worked with the United News of India (UNI) for over four decades, died here on Friday morning due to cardiac arrest. He was 82 years old.

He breathed his last at his ancestral home in Pratapgarh. His last rites will be performed at Sangam beach in Prayagraj. Social organizations, political parties and journalist organizations have expressed grief over the demise of Pandey. Recently, Pandey's son passed away after a prolonged illness, due to which he was very distressed.

A soft-spoken and simple person, Pandey served at UNI for nearly 42 years. He also served as the bureau chief of UNI in Gorakhpur and Kanpur before his retirement in 2005.

He was the general secretary in the executive committee of the Press Club Gorakhpur formed in 1993 and was also the president and patron of the Gorakhpur Patrakar Parishad, the predecessor body of the Gorakhpur Journalist Association, the first journalism organization of Gorakhpur.

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