Four Government Railway Police personnel in Uttar Pradesh have been booked for allegedly beating up a journalist who was covering the derailment of a goods train near Shamli city, an unidentified official told PTI on Thursday.

The journalist Amit Sharma, who works with Hindi television channel News24, alleged that he was dragged to the GRP station in Shamli where he was stripped and harassed on Wednesday.

Police registered a case against the four GRP personnel for causing hurt, insult, robbery and wrongful confinement of the journalist, GRP Superintendent of Police (Moradabad) Subhash Chandra Dubey said. Dubey had also suspended Inspector Rakesh Kumar and Constable Sanjay Pawar on Wednesday.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had said on Wednesday that he will seek a report in the matter.

The matter came to light after a video of the assault was widely shared on social media. In the video, Kumar can be seen slapping the journalist. His subordinates also assaulted the journalist and urinated in his mouth despite his repeated pleas. “They were in plain clothes,” said the journalist. “One hit my camera and it fell down. When I picked it up, they hit and abused me.”

The journalist was detained for a night. An order was issued to release him on Wednesday morning, reported India Today. In another video, the journalist can be seen narrating his ordeal from behind bars while Kumar sits on a chair and rejects all his charges.

It is not clear why the GRP personnel objected to the journalist covering the derailment.

The train accident took place near Dhimanpura in Shamli when two wagons of a goods train derailed around 8.50 pm on Tuesday. There were no casualties.

The assault triggered much outrage against the BJP-led State government as it came days after Journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested from Delhi for his comments about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on social media.