Hyderabad: A journalist was chained to a hospital bed after allegedly being assaulted by Nilagiri police in Balasore district, Odisha on April 4.
“I had earlier exposed various activities of corruption and irregularities of the Nilagiri police, for which the inspector in charge had a grudge against me. As many as 11 home guards of the police station have got appointments by furnishing forged certificates as they had exceeded the upper age limit…Besides, the IIC has been receiving bribes from drug peddlers in Nilagiri. I had reported the two incidents,” said Lokanath Dalei, a reporter with Odia daily Sambad and TV channel Kanak New.
Dalei claimed he went unconscious after being thrashed by the Nilagiri police station IIC. According to Sambad English, an argument occurred between the journalist and a Nilagiri police station home guard on April 4 when their vehicles collided in a market.
According to the report, Dalei was summoned to the police station on Wednesday after the homeguard filed a complaint against him. He claimed that a police officer at the station snatched his phone, after which he was allegedly assaulted by the IIC.
The journalist was taken to Nilagiri Hospital and later shifted to the Balasore District Headquarters Hospital.
