"I was dragged to the first floor of the bar. The staffers took turns to thrash me with belts, sticks, and rained blows," said Mishra, who too is the editor of an English weekly.
Senior journalist Santosh Mishra, who was assaulted while covering the police raid on a Bhayander bar in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, is thanking his stars. He said he was about to meet the same fate as editor Raghavendra Dube, who was murdered.
After learning about the raid at White House, Mishra and two other journalists, Anil Nautiyal and Shashi Sharma, reached the spot and started clicking pictures. But the bar staff assaulted the trio in front of the raid party.
"I was dragged to the first floor of the bar. The staffers took turns to thrash me with belts, sticks, and rained blows," said Mishra, who too is the editor of an English weekly.
The ordeal continued for hours and Mishra was unaware of the goings on outside, including Dube's killing. "A man came up to me and said 'Dube ko parcel kar diya hai upar, aur ab teri baari hai (we have dispatched Dube up, it's your turn now)," said Mishra.
At the same time, another man told him: Ab tujhe coma mai jaana hai ya direct upar (are you ready to go into a coma or directly die). Mishra said, "Till then, I had no idea what actually had happened."
Mishra was bundled into a car by three men. "After driving for some time, the vehicle entered the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. The men were constant touch with bar owner Ganesh Kamath. I heard them saying that they would kill me and dump my body."
Meanwhile, the local journalists had begun pressing the cops for quick action into Mishra's disappearance. "I was surprised when the bar owner called the men in the car saying they should not harm me. The attackers then apologised saying it was a case of mistaken identity. They dropped me at Kashimira in the morning. A friend got me admitted to the hospital."
The police have so far arrested 13 people for attempting to kill Mishra. "They have been remanded in police custody till July 23," said Rajesh Pradhan, district SP (Thane rural).
Prabhakar Kudalkar, president of the Press Club of Vasai-Virar, demanded immediate arrest of all perpetrators. "The case should be tried in a fast-track court. Also, action should be taken against the cops who were mute spectators to the assault on the scribes."
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