News18 Assam Journalist Stabbed Repeatedly by Restaurant Owner, Employees in Guwahati

Guwahati: A News18 journalist in Assam was stabbed repeatedly by the owner and employees of a restaurant in Guwahati’s Ganeshguri locality on Thursday night.

Chakrapani Parashar, a TV journalist and popular anchor, was stabbed by the workers of AlbarEats, a restaurant adjacent to the News18 office when he was on duty. Police have detained four accused in connection with the attack.

Parashar sustained serious injuries in various parts of his body and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he is stated to be out of danger, News18 Assam’s NE editor Sanjoy Paul said.

Trouble began after Parashar went with his unit to cover a fight between the main accused, who runs a restaurant in the same building as the news channel and some youths while playing Holi, News18 Assam/NE Deputy Manager (Operations) Aparup Barua said.

Barua said the the restaurant owner started an argument with Parashar for covering the incident. He also allegedly threatened him with dire consequences.

In the evening, when about five to six of our journalists, including Parashar, went to the restaurant to settle the matter amicably, the accused persons took out a dagger and stabbed him repeatedly.

CCTV footage shows Parashar being thrown out of the restaurant and beaten mercilessly after being stabbed in the abdomen.

The accused allegedly even pulled down the entrance shutter of the restaurant and tried to set ablaze the area with the LPG cylinder used in the eatery.

The arrested persons are restaurant owner Sayed Ali, his brother Niraj Ahmed and employees Nitin Sharma and Bhabesh Das.

Ali has a criminal record and was arrested earlier too, police said.

Various political parties - national and regional and journalists organisations have condemned the attack on Parashar.

The Electronic Media Forum Assam (EMFA) has expressed concern over the attack and demanded stringent actions against the culprits. It also urged the state government to ensure security to media persons by enacting a special protection law at the earliest.

In a statement here on Friday, EMFA claimed that increasing instances of physical assaults are being reported from various parts of the country and the Centre should take the matter seriously. It also appealed to all media persons across the country to be united over the issue.