Two journalists of the Indian Express were assaulted at Dhanyarukhi village in Burdwan’s Mangalkot on Friday, the newspaper reported. The village — where CPM leader Falguni Mukherjee was killed by miscreants, triggering the trouble at Mangalkot — is reportedly a CPM stronghold.
Correspondent Kartyk Venkatraman and photo journalist Subham Dutta were injured and their mobile phones, camera, flash gun, wallets and Dutta’s wristwatch were snatched away.
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A formal complaint was lodged with Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti and an FIR was lodged at Mangalkot police station. Raj Kanojia, IG, Law and Order, West Bengal Police, said he had instructed the SP to take action against the culprits.
The journalists had reached the village — where eight Congress MLAs, led by Congress Legislature Party leader Manas Bhuniya were assaulted on Wednesday — around noon.
On their way back after talking to the villagers, they saw columns of smoke emanating from the village. They rushed back to discover some houses ablaze. As Dutta started clicking photos, a group of people surrounded them.
“They abused us, alleging that we were siding with the Congress and Trinamool Congress. Threatening us with dire consequences, they manhandled us, took away our belongings and escorted us out of the village,†Venkatraman said.
Later, as a police contingent arrived, the attackers ran away and some of their belongings were retrieved. Amal Haldar, CPM Burdwan district committee secretary, said: There are no CPM members in that village. A lot of anti-social elements have entered the village and we are unable to control these people. We strongly condemn this attack on mediapersons.â€
