In a daring incident, an armed gang on Sunday morning assaulted a senior journalist with a satellite television channel, R. Chandran (46), with deadly weapons after he complained with the city police about nuisance created by by youths using narcotic substances in his neighbourhood in Mullai Nagar near Mahatma Gandhi Nagar.
The victim has been admitted to the intensive care unit of a private hospital with multiple cut and stab injuries on his ribs and shoulder.
The Koodal Nagar police have arrested one J. Arun Joseph alias Kingsley (24) and are on the lookout for two more youths identified as Dinesh and Karuppu.
Police said that the gang, carrying a machete and knife, waylaid Chandran, who was returning home from a milk booth around 6.30 a.m. They started to indiscriminately assault him with sharp weapons.
Chandran was already targeted by members of the gang few weeks back after he complained to police about youths creating nuisance in the locality under the influence of narcotics substances. However, he escaped, but his son was assaulted.
The police had arrested few persons in this connection.
The gang that was irked by the police action had attacked him again on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu Television Reporters and Cameramen Association has condemned the attack on the journalist. “Of late, journalists have been attacked in many incidents reported across the State. The Chief Minister should intervene to put an end to these atrocities,” its general secretary A. Kasilingam said.
The culprits should be brought to book immediately, he said.
M. Subash Babu, president of Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association (MMBA), said that the Commissioner of Police should form a special team to arrest the accused. The second attack had only raised the doubt that certain vested interests in the police department were hand in glove with those peddling ganja. He wondered why the city police had not booked the accused for attempt to murder while the victim had grievous injuries.
The Koodal Pudur police have booked a case for wrongful restraint, using abusive language, hurting with deadly weapons, criminal intimidation and abetment.
