Attack on woman journo & cameraman: Two security guards arrested in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate police today arrested two security guards on charges of beating up a woman journalist and cameraman, who were covering a live report on illegal parking fee collection at a shopping mall here at Rasulgarh.

The accused persons were identified as Pankaj Sahoo and Mahant Biswal, working as security guards at Esplanade One.

Sahid Nagar police apprehended the accused persons following a complaint yesterday. They were the prime accused in attack on the woman journalist Swati Jena and cameraperson Pramod Mohapatra of Argus, a private web channel.

According to reports, Swati Jena and Pramod Mohapatra were on premises of Esplanade One in the evening on Saturday for a live coverage on illegal parking fee collection. While they were covering the report, some security staff of the shopping mall hindered them and abused them. When the duo opposed, the security guards thrashed them. Even they threatened the duo to kill them.

“The security guards of the shopping mall were behaving like wild savages. They were using slangs and threatened to murder us. They tried to snatch our camera and took my boom away. When we opposed it, they called women security guards and started assaulting us,” said woman journalist Swati Jena.

“Around 7-8 men and 4 women security guards kicked us, tried to strangled us and punched on our faces and locked us inside a room. Even, the marketing manager, who is also a woman, was instructing her staff not to leave us and to continue thrashing us,” she said.

The duo approached the Sahid Nagar Police Station over phone. After the complaint, the police reached the spot 40 minutes after the incident. The victims lodged an FIR against the shopping mall staff with the police for stern action.