Rose Valley employees attack journos, Three injured

Kolkata, March 26 (IANS) Three media persons on Thursday sustained minor injuries in an assault by employees of Rose Valley while reporting on developments surrounding the arrest of the chief of Saradha-scam related ponzi firm a day ago, police said.

The media persons were reporting on the latest developments surrounding Gautam Kundu's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday.

"Three journalists sustained minor injuries. A complaint has been lodged by the injured journalists. No persons have been detained or arrested yet. Those who attacked the journalists were all employees of Rose Valley," Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Rajiv Mishra told reporters here.

Kundu was presented before a sessions court during the day when a mob comprising the company's employees attacked the media persons stationed around the court premises. He was presented before Sessions Judge Mohammad Mumtaz Khan's court, where the ED sought his custody, while Kundu' lawyers prayed for his bail.

After hearing both parties, the judge rejected the bail plea and sent him to ED's custody till March 31.

According to footage showed on TV channels, while a journalist and a cameraperson of a regional news channel were assaulted, the mob broke the camera of one photographer of an English daily and another photojournalist.

Mishra claimed "adequate police personnel were present at the court".

"Initially, there were about 20 personnel who were present, under the supervision of the assistant commissioner of the central division. Later the deputy commissioner of Central Division also joined in the aftermath. No baton charge took place," Mishra said.

One of the journalists said people were demanding an answer on Kundu's arrest.

"People were shouting 'Rose Valley zindabad' and 'why Gautam Kundu is arrested'. Soon, they asked us what we were filming and assaulted us... while I was being beaten up, our cameraperson was dragged to another end and he was also assaulted," the journalist said.

He claimed the mob also threatened to kill the journalists while another reporter said he was hit with a piece of wood.

The mob allegedly also damaged the media persons' equipment.

Politicians, intellectuals and rights activists condemned the attack.

Communist Party of India-Marxist Central Committee member and MP Mohammad Salim said: "All well-meaning democracy loving people should condemn this act. It is not merely an attack on journalists, but on people's democratic rights."

Rights activist Ranjit Sur said: "I condemn this act. By looking at the incident, it is understandable that it was a planned attack".

Painter Samir Aich questioned the attack despite police presence.

"How was this (incident) possible before the eyes of the police and administration? Rose Valley is making a mistake if it thinks it can cheat people off their money and will assault journalists reporting about it," Aich said.