Doordarshan cameraman, 2 cops killed in Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh

“I saw my colleague fall in front of me,” says Dheeraj Kumar, a 37-year old journalist who survived in the Maoist attack near Sameli in Dantewada on Tuesday morning. Two police personnel and a cameraman of Doordarshan were killed in the ambush. The deceased were ASI Rudra Pratap, constable Manglu and cameraman of Doordarshan Acchutanand Sahu. One another, Doordarshan journalist survived in the attack and while two more policemen were injured, said police. Dheeraj Kumar, who hails from Begsurai district of Bihar and works for Doordashan, was heading for coverage towards Nilwaya about 5 km from CRPF camp of Sameli. “We were planning to cover a newly-built polling station in Nilwaya where people haven’t voted since 1998,” said Dheeraj. The CRPF, which received an SOS message, rushed troops for reinforcement and evacuation. We are trying to find out what were they covering (reporters). The true face of the Maoists are coming out. We will investigate the matter. We all need to fight this together. Deputy Inspector General P Sundarraj told news agency ANI that the attack exposes the “true face of naxals”. Union Information and Broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Rathore also condemned the killing. “We stand in solidarity with family of the cameraman... We will take care of his family. We salute all those media persons who go for coverage in such dangerous situations and remember their bravery,” the minister said, according to ANI. In tweets condoling the deaths, Prasar Bharati later said the public broadcaster had deployed a camera team for election coverage including cameraman Achyuta Nanda Sahu, reporter Dhiraj Kumar and light assistant Mormukt Sharma. The team came under attack by Maoists this forenoon near Dantewada. Source: Hindustan Times