Bhubaneswar: Supporters of SUM Hospital owner Manoj Nayak Friday attacked journalists who were waiting at Jharpada central jail for Manoj Nayak to be brought out by the police and taken on two-day remand.
“Police arrested four people in the matter and a case (323/16) has been registered against them,” said Bharat Sahoo, inspector in-charge of Laxmisagar police station.
Those arrested have been identified as Khageswar Sahoo (32) of Kendrapa, K Satish Kumar (34) of Jatani, Ashok Kumar Tripathy (31) of Khurda and Rashmi Ranjan Samal (32) of Jajpur.
“Khageswar Sahoo and Rashmi Ranjan Samal are former employees of SUM Hospital. Khageswar Sahoo was working as an electrician and Rashmi Ranjan Samal as a technician at the hospital,” said the police officer.
“About 20 people came towards us and pushed our cameraman as we were waiting for Manoj Nayak to be taken on remand by the police. When we tried to stop them they start assaulting us. Police stopped them and took four of them into custody,” said Saubhagya Parida of Kanak TV.
“As Manoj Nayak was being taken on remand, I was on the jail premises taking photographs. When I went out, some people assaulted me and asked why we were taking pictures and videos of the hospital owner,” said Jeetender Sahoo of Suryaprava.
“They said Nayak is not guilty and alleged that we are creating a false image of him. They attacked us and tried to snatch our phones. They broke the camera of a Kanak TV photojournalist,” said Sahoo.
“I tried to stop them but they hit me on my face. They also misbehaved with female reporters and abused journalists,” he said.
Twin city police commissioner Yogesh Khurania assured the mediapersons that “police will take strict action against the culprits.”
SUM Hospital authorities have declined to comment on the issue despite repeated requests.
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