Tension prevailed in Soro of Baleswar district on Thursday after two journalists were attacked allegedly by local MLA Parsuram Dhada over a trivial issue.
The scribes working with two leading private news channels were later admitted to hospital for treatment.
Sources said the MLA was staging a dharna in front of the local agriculture office protesting “irregularities” in the implementation of the Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY). When the two journalists took pictures and videos of the protest in their mobile phones, the legislator and his supporters allegedly abused the two and thrashed them leaving them critically injured. The MLA’s supporters also allegedly took away their phones and deleted all the recordings.
However, the MLA refuted the allegations, saying that he did not attack anyone; rather, the two journalists were drunk and misbehaved with some locals present on the spot.