News channel NDTV has alleged that three of its reporters were ‘badly beaten’ by a mob in Delhi as violence intensified in the national capital claiming at least seven lives.
Taking to Twitter, NDTV’s Executive Editor Nidhi Razdan wrote, “Two of my colleagues Arvind Gunasekar and Saurabh Shukla were badly beaten by a mob just now in Delhi, they only stopped beating them after realising they are “our people- Hindus”. Absolutely despicable.”
Two of my colleagues @arvindgunasekar and @saurabhshukla_s were badly beaten by a mob just now in Delhi, they only stopped beating them after realising they are “our people- Hindus”. Absolutely despicable.
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) February 25, 2020
Another senior functionary of NDTV, Suparna Singh, wrote, “Both @arvindgunasekar and @Saurabh_Unmute showed exemplary courage…they are getting medical attention now.”
Both @arvindgunasekar and @Saurabh_Unmute showed exemplary courage…they are getting medical attention now. https://t.co/7ZsjQX3HvZ
— Suparna Singh (@Suparna_Singh) February 25, 2020
According to a report by NDTV, Arvind Gunasekar was circled by a mob that hit him on the face; a lathi was about to be brought down on his head when his colleague, Saurabh Shukla, intervened. “The lathi hit Saurabh instead; he was also punched on the back and the stomach and hit on his leg; he is currently limping. Arvind lost three teeth in the attack,” the report added.
Mariyam Alavi, according to the news channel, was hit on the back by a mob in a different part of northeast Delhi.
Saurabh Shukla’s last post on Twitter was a video showing how rioters in Delhi had set a house in Karawal Nagar on fire.
First hand: करावल नगर में लगभग 12 बजे एक घर में दंगाइयों ने आग लगा दी है .. पुलिस की कौई तैनाती नहीं … @ndtv pic.twitter.com/5WZpknw0ep
— Saurabh shukla (@Saurabh_Unmute) February 25, 2020
His latest tweet read, “Have received a lot of phone calls and messages from well-wishers in the last one hour. We are absolutely fine. Rest, we will talk later.”
Delhi has been burning for the last 48 hours with at least seven people including a head constable of the city police killed in the violence. The large-scale violence erupted soon after BJP’s Kapil Mishra threatened to take law into his own hands in the presence of a senior IPS officer from the Delhi Police.
Netizens have been demanding Mishra’s arrest, but the cops have chosen to look the other way since the Delhi Police report to the BJP government at the Centre.