india

Updated: Aug 15, 2019 13:53 IST

A lecturer of the Tripura Central University and several others assaulted the staff of a newspaper and vandalised its office in the state capital of Agartala over a report that allegedly led to his suspension.

Employees of the Tripura Times lodged a complaint at West Agartala police station late on Wednesday evening and demanded immediate action against the attackers.

The attack came after Tripura Times’ August 10 report about Moti Kapoor, a sociology teacher at the university, showing karate moves in one of his classes a few days ago. Kapoor has said the report was baseless.

The newspaper staff have said in their first information report (FIR) that their office manager Soumen Bhattacharjee and senior reporter Jaydip Chakraborty were assaulted by Kapoor, Samar Chakraborty and others, who barged into their office on Wednesday evening.

Jaydip Chakraborty alleged the accused also tried to enter the residence of Tripura High Court judge justice Arindam Lodh, located in the premises of the newspaper office, but failed as it was locked. Lodh, a former editor of the newspaper, and his family were out of town.

“Both Moti Kapoor and Samar Chakrabarty kicked and tried to vandalise entrance of Mr Lodh’s chamber. They even threatened to stop publication of the newspaper and other dire consequences. They said they had arms with them,” Jaydip Chakraborty said.

“Regarding his query, we told him that the news was filed on the basis of a video which went viral on social media,” he said.

Police said they are investigating the matter.

“The newspaper staff lodged a complaint against the faculty and another one. During our search, we seized the faculty’s two-wheeler from the university campus. He is absconding and a search is on,” said officer-in-charge of West Agartala police station Debaprasad Roy.