Bhubaneswar: The police in the Odisha capital here today arrested a former news anchor on charges of posting abusive and defamatory contents against a senior journalist of a private news channel in social media platforms.

The accused has been identified as Sribatsa Dhal (43) of Satabdi Nagar under Khandagiri police limits in the capital city.

The cops have registered a case against Dhal under Section 351 (2) and 296 of the IPC and Section 3 (1) (r) (s) of the SC and ST Act on the basis of a complaint filed by victim Debanarayan Sethi (54).

Accused and complainant were colleagues

Both Dhal and Sethi were working in the same private Odia news channel. Dhal, who was working as a news anchor, used to harass Sethi, an editorial staffer.

Dhal allegedly hurled abuses at Sethi and threatened him during a meeting at the office of the news channel’s CEO on August 11 this year.

Accused was sacked from job in August  

The accused was sacked from the job for his unruly behaviour on August 15. Since then, he has been posting defamatory and abusive contents against Sethi in social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube with an intention to tarnish the latter’s image.

The Khandagiri police today arrested the accused from Shreekhetra Vihar area of the city and produced him in a local court. Further investigation in this regard is underway.  

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