GUWAHATI: In a suspected case of hit and run, a journalist was killed in southern Assam’s Silchar area on Sunday night.
The scribe, Malin Sarma (43), died on the spot after a speeding truck hit his two-wheeler. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.
Sarma, who was a reporter of Barak Television Network, was heading towards Tarapur at around 11 pm after covering an event. The truck driver fled the scene in the vehicle immediately after the incident.
The police said they were probing the case. On getting news of the incident, local journalists rushed to the site and staged a protest by briefly blocking the road.
Whether it was a pre-planned murder or a mere accident is something which remains to be investigated by the police. However, journalists in Assam have often come under attack from the miscreants.
In April, a television journalist was allegedly attacked by a group of four men in Tinsukia. The journalist, Upasana Barua Goswami, came under the attack when she had visited a restaurant along with her husband.
Just a few days later, another television-journalist was attacked by five unidentified miscreants in Jorhat. The victim, Rajib Bora, had sustained grievous head injuries in the attack.
In the latest incident last week, a TV journalist, Subrata Kalita, was attacked with a hammer in broad daylight at Beltola area of Guwahati. Later, the police arrested the accused who was allegedly under the influence of drugs at the time of crime.