VASCO
Barely days after an RTI activist was beaten up by a group of women in Paroda, another social and RTI activist Narayan Dutta Naik was brutally assaulted by two masked men as he was leaving the Sancoale Panchayat on Saturday.
Naik was attacked with rods and pipes and suffered injuries on his head, back and leg even as the attackers fled from the scene on a motorbike. He is reported to be out of danger.
According to an eyewitness, Vishal Naik, the men wore masks and one was in a raincoat armed with 1.5 metre iron rod.
The incident occurred at around 12.15 when I had to come collect my ration card. “I saw Narayan Naik discussing with the secretary and we left the panchayat almost together. I came down and saw a man with a raincoat and wearing a mask and was surprised and suspicious as it was not raining”, he said.
Continuing further, Vishal said, “Narayan Naik was behind me and suddenly another person came with a rod and started attacking him along with the man wearing a raincoat. I tried to save him but they hit me with a rod as well. I rushed to a nearby construction site and picked up a wooden stick and tried to scare them but by then, they had brutally attacked him”.
“I tried to chase them but they pointed a gun at me. They later sat on a bike and fled”, he said.
Sancoale Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar informed that he was at home when the incident occurred but rushed to the site after being alerted by his staff.
“This is an unfortunate incident, but has to be taken seriously because if an activist is attacked in broad daylight, anything can happen to us as well”, Borkar said.
Unfortunately, the CCTV installed at the panchayat is non-functional for the last four years. “We will try to fix the CCTV again because this incident is an eye-opener", said Borkar.
