A family member and supporters of a Telugu Desam Party legislator beat up a journalist in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh for an article on the MLA’s and his brother’s alleged corruption. The incident came to light on Monday when visuals of Amanchi Krishna Mohan’s (pictured above) brother Amanchi Swamulu and his supporters attacking the scribe of a local Telugu news channel went viral.

The police have registered a case against Swamulu and others, but have not made any arrests yet. According to The New Indian Express, the condition of journalist M Nagarjuna Reddy is critical.

Reddy was attacked when he was on his way to a shop with his five-year-old son on Sunday evening. He fell down from his motorbike and was chased by Amanchi Swamulu and his aides with sticks. The incident took place near a police station in Chirala town in full public view.

The police have booked Reddy under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in a counter complaint by Amanchi Swamulu, reported IANS. The complaint claimed Reddy has used caste-related abuses against the TDP MLA and his brother. Krishna Mohan said that the attack was an emotional reaction to “abusive language” that the journalist had used against them. “He used abusive language. He is not journalist he is ‘pseudo-naxal’,” he told CNN News 18.

Reddy had published a report in his monthly magazine on Krishna Mohan where he said that the MLA and his brother had borrowed loans from banks in the name of people belonging to economically backward sections. Since the money was not repaid, the banks had reportedly approached the people under whose names the loans were taken.

Reddy told IANS that this was not the first time he has been attacked. He claimed that Krishna Mohan’s aides have made four attempts on his life in the past 10 years.

Journalists across Adhra Pradesh have condemned the incident. While the Amravati unit of Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists’ Federation has submitted a memorandum to the Home Minister, the district units will write to the police and the collector to demand the arrest of those involved in the attack. “This is an assault on the freedom of press. If they were angry about the article, they could have taken legal steps against it,” federation general secretary G Anjaneyulu told The News Minute.

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