E-Paper
Demolition follows assault on scribes
PART OF the structure of a small building on Lohia Marg, housing the office of a Hindi daily Savarn Morcha, was dismantled by the Nagar Nigam?s JCB machine here on Saturday evening.
PART OF the structure of a small building on Lohia Marg, housing the office of a Hindi daily Savarn Morcha, was dismantled by the Nagar Nigam’s JCB machine here on Saturday evening.
The demolition followed strong protests lodged by journalists against those running this office.
Mediapersons became agitated after one Rajesh Misra, the man running the daily, assaulted four journalists with hockey sticks last evening.
When police reached the spot, Rajesh and his staff members had already fled. News Reporters’ Club secretary Devendra Singh, Rajeev Ranjan, Abhilash Narain and Anant Ram, who were injured in the attack were taken for treatment.
Anant Ram and Devendra Singh suffered fractures in the hand.
Meanwhile, police seized some pirated CD’s from a portion of the office during the search for Misra who they thought was hiding inside after attacking the mediapersons.
Later, an FIR was lodged against Rajesh Misra and some others. Rajesh has allegedly encroached upon a public toilet that had been reportedly built before 1952.
Reporters’ Club president Ratan Dixit had received complaints from certain quarters that Rajesh had been distributing mediacards to unscrupulous elements after charging them Rs 500.
When the president questioned Rajesh on the phone, the latter allegedly lost his temper and used abusive language on the phone. After this, journalists went over to Rajesh’s office to talk to him and enquire about the validity of the paper, he had been publishing without realising what was in store for them. With a hockey stick, Rajesh pounced on the journalists, along with some of his associates.
Rajesh also allegedly took out a countrymade pistol and could have fired, but the injured journalists retraced their steps. Some women at this stage also started hurling bricks at the journalists, who had by then informed the police on the phone.
On Saturday, mediapersons talked to the DM and urged him to order dismantling of the illegal structure, which Rajesh had built after browbeating residents.
District magistrate Amrit Abhijat ordered municipal commissioner Gaya Prasad to take action on the request of mediapersons, but the NN staff made delays.
Upset over this, mediapersons blocked movement of traffic on Kanpur Road for some time to register their protest. The NN, however, went ahead and demolished part of the illegal structure.
