Nirupam demands SIT probe into attack on journalist

Mumbai unit Congress president Sanjay Nirupam today demanded setting up of a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the brutal attack on a journalist in adjoining Navi Mumbai on March 31.

In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nirupam urged him to personally look into the case, saying the mastermind of the attack is yet to be nabbed.

Sudhir Suryavanshi, a journalist with a Mumbai-based English newspaper, and his friend Santosh Fatate were attacked by 4 to 5 persons in Kharghar area.

Nirupam said the attackers, who were nabbed three days after the assault, should be booked under section 307 (atempt to murder) of IPC.

Police have arrested five persons in the case and booked them under section 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.

According to police, the assailants had punctured the tyres of Fatate's Swift car in which both had come from Panvel, and fled the spot on motorcycles after the attack.

The attack was suspected to be related to some dispute between Suryavanshi and some members over elections held in his housing society in Panvel.

Suryawanshi and Fatate were admitted to the Medicity Hospital at Kharghar.

Following the incident, a delegation of journalist organisations had met the Chief Minister here and apprised him of recent cases of attacks and threats to journalists in the state.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)