Three arrested in attack on media in Lalgarh area of West Bengal
Three members of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) were arrested from Lalgarh area of West Bengal on Saturday in connection with an attack on mediapersons the day before, police said.
The three- arrested from Buripal village in West Midnapore district and identified as Shaktipada Mahato, Panchanal Mahato and Ajit Mahato- would be produced in Midnapore court on Saturday.
As the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres try to make a comeback in the area captured by the Maoists last year, mediapersons became the first casualty.
On Friday, the CPI-M men attacked journalists, including TV correspondents and cameramen, near Pirakata in Lalgarh.
They were assaulted with iron rods and staves. The injured Sambit Pal , Sooraj Pandey, Arnab Mukhopadhyay, Pronab Mondal, Amitabha Rath, Sudip Gucchait and Amit Datta, all journalists and camerapersons from prominent media houses like The Times of India, The Telegraph, Star Ananda and Times Now.
Mondal suffered a fractured arm.
“The first blow came from the back. As I slumped to the ground, I could hear the abuses being hurled at me,” Mondol wrote in The Telegraph.
“‘Cut his hands so he can?t write any more copies,’ said one of the men towering over me, the red flags of the CPM fluttering in the background.
‘So he wants to report on harmad (mercenary) camps! Show him what theharmads are like.’,” the journalist wrote.
Trinamoool Congress leader Partha Chattopadhayay raised the issue with the new West Bengal Director General of Police Naparajit Mukherjee.
“The CPI-M is taking control of the area and preventing media from reaching the spots,” Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said.
CPI-M leader Shymal Chakraborty said the incident was sad, but claimed that the assailants may not be his partymen.
Trinamool Congress said the CPI-M is trying to take control of Lalgarh, which went under Maoist control in 2009, in the same violent fashion they returned to Nandigram in East Midnapore in 2007.