By IANS
Ahmedabad : Some 20 people Saturday attacked the office of news television network NDTV after it ran an SMS poll listing painter M.F. Hussein as a potential contender for Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian honour.
The attackers, claiming to be from a previously unknown group called Hindu Samrajya Sena, ransacked the office here, broke windowpanes, air conditioners and electrical fittings and damaged other equipment.
A staff member was beaten up with hockey sticks. He was taken to hospital.
The office of the channel is located in a bungalow near the Loyola School of St. Xavier in the heart of the city.
The channel was, however, able to restart operations within a short time, Rajeev Pathak, a journalist with the channel, told IANS.
Joint Commissioner of Police Satish Sharma visited the office and promised that the attackers would soon be identified and “strict action” would be taken against them.
The attackers plastered the office with posters and banners describing the channel as “traitors” and demanding an apology from it.
Apparently the same group had threatened the channel two days ago. One person identifying himself as an electrician had come to the office demanding to speak to the reporters. He was told the reporters had gone for the day. Before leaving the person had reportedly said: “whatever you are doing is not correct.”
Octogenarian Hussein, arguably India’s best-known painter, has been forced to live in exile in Dubai after some Hindu groups threatened him after he painted a Hindu goddess in the nude.