Two journalists were allegedly attacked by masked men inside the premises of a BJP MLA’s office in Ghaziabad Thursday. Nand Kishor Gurjar, the MLA from Loni, however, claimed the journalists were possessed by a “djinn”, which made them attack each other. “We received a complaint from two journalists that they were attacked while waiting for an official inside the MLA’s office around 11 am. We are scanning CCTV footage. An FIR has been registered,” said an officer. As per the FIR, Sartaj Khan and Shaukat Ali were filming the removal of an encroachment in Loni Wednesday when they were allegedly manhandled by police. They had gone to the MLA to seek his intervention. Sartaj works for online newspaper Shah Times while Shaukat is a reporter with a daily called Qaumi Patrika. “They attacked us with sticks. We covered a story on encroachment; it is possible this is linked. And the MLA is insulting us by saying we were possessed,” said Sartaj. MLA Gurjar, meanwhile, claimed: “There was no attack by other people. It appears they were possessed by a djinn which made them beat each other up. It is also possible that they suffered a fit. We called a maulvi later to inspect if there were spirits in the office.”
