An Express staffer was threatened by a Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer in Kochi on Wednesday with the dire consequence of being implicated as a suspect in a blast case, if a bomb were to go off in the railway station.
The crime committed by Mithun Vinod, staff photographer with Kochi bureau of The New Indian Express: He parked his two-wheeler in a no-parking area.
Mithun, who was on duty to record the reduced flow of commuters arriving by Venad Express at Ernakulam Junction railway station around 9.50 am, admitted that he had done wrong and willingly followed the officer to accept the notice from the RPF. The officer, later understood to be from the Crime Branch, turned abusive: “Do you think the media can get away with anything. You will learn a lesson once you are produced before the court.”
“I can charge anybody here with anything as I have the power to do so. You will be the first to be nabbed as a suspect if a bomb blast were to occur here,” he said.
Meanwhile, K P James, Assistant Commissioner (RPF), told Express that “the security was beefed up at the station. The matter will be inquired into seriously and action will be taken if the official had committed any mistake.” Rajesh Agarwal, DRM Trivandrum division, said: “I will personally counsel these fellows who misbehave with the public and the media.”