Journalist robbed at gunpoint

noida: A senior journalist with a Hindi news channel was allegedly robbed and assaulted in Noida Extension area on late Saturday night. The journalist, who was travelling in his car, was intercepted by four to five men and was held captive at gunpoint during the robbery bid.

The matter came to light through a social media post posted by Atul Agrawal, editor-in-chief of the Hindi Khabar news channel.

While police said that they have not yet received any complaint in connection with the matter, police took cognisance from the social media post and launched an investigation.

As per Agrawal, on Saturday around 1 am, he was in his SUV when he stopped midway to insert a pen drive in his car stereo merely 250-300 meters away from the police chowki.

Around five masked men on motorcycles stopped and asked him to lower the window pane. One of the accused, whom he mentioned to be very tall, pointed a gun at him and forced him to step out of

the car. The accused forcefully entered into the car and sat on the driving seat. They asked him to hand over valuables to him and took his mobile phone.

However, one of the accused noticed the Press sticker on his car and identified him to be a journalist whom he has seen on television, wrote Agrawal in his post.

The journalist kept on begging the criminals to spare him and after few minutes, they threw his mobile phone on car's back seat and fled away after threatening him with dire consequences if he tells about the incident to anyone.

The criminals took Rs 5,000 from him during the robbery bid.

Following the incident, the journalist said that he couldn't inform the police and rushed home.

A senior police officer said that they took cognisance of the matter through social media posts.

"Through social media we have come to notice that a senior journalist was attacked by a group of men on late Saturday night.

"While no complaint has been received in the matter so far, we have taken cognisance of the issue and have formed teams to arrest the culprits," said Harish Chandar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida).