Thaindian News

Guwahati, July 19 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday said that he did not put any pressure on the former editor-in-chief of local TV news channel News Live to resign over the coverage of July 9 public molestation of a girl on a main road here.

Gogoi asked the channel to clarify the statement of its former editor-in-chief that there was pressure from him to resign over the coverage of the July 9 incident.

“I have not put any pressure on anyone. The management of the channel should clarify the statements made by its former editor-in-chief, Atanu Bhuyan,” said Gogoi.

The chief minister told this to newsmen outside the Assam legislative assembly.

Atanu Bhuyan, editor-in-chief of the TV channel, resigned on Tuesday, alleging probable pressure from various quarters, particularly after the chief minister commented on the allegation that one of the channel’s reporters is also involved in the molestation case.

The management of the channel, however, clarified later that it was neither pressurised by the government nor by the chief minister of Assam and that the views expressed by Atanu Bhuyan, particularly after his resignation from the channel, were his personal views.

Meanwhile, the police continued efforts to arrest three identified men for their involvement in the incident. They are untraced and on the run. The three include the main culprit, Amarjyoti Kalita.

Police have so far arrested 12 persons for their involvement in the crime and seized the raw video footage captured by the channel on the molestation.

A senior city police official said that the footage had already been sent to the state forensic laboratory in Guwahati for matching the audio with the voice of the journalist Gaurav Jyoti Neog, who has been accused of inciting the mob to strip the girl in public.

The Gauhati High Court Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Neog and asked the police to submit the case diaries of the case to the court by July 30.