HYDERABAD: A senior Telugu journalist was brutally attacked by around 15 goons, including women, while he on his way back home from office on Thursday.

The journalist Shankar runs a YouTube channel 'News Line Telugu' and an e-paper called 'Idhi Telanganam'. Shankar has been critical of the Telangana Congress Government after it came to power in December 2023. In most of the stories, he kept questioning the Revanth Reddy Government on their delayed promises made during election campaign.

Some of his stories include failure by the Government to credit subsidy to farmers under Rythu Bandhu scheme, frequent power cuts and alleged seizure of farmers' lands in Kodangal (Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's constituency) for development.

How was Shankar attacked

On Thursday, at around 11 pm, Shankar had left his office along with two of his colleagues in Siris Road of LB Nagar. According to his colleague Lingaswamy, "While Shankar was leaving the office, a man in a red t-shirt came in front of his car. When he slowed down, two women came on a scooty and hit Shankar's car from behind. When he stepped out, goons came from nowhere and started pelting stones at him. Then a few people punched Shankar on his face and chest and he started facing difficulties in breathing. Our colleagues tried to record the footage of the attack, but they were roughed up too and their phones broken.

"Fearing for his life, Shankar ran into a house at a short distance away. Meanwhile, someone from the mob had stolen two of Shankar's phones," Lingaswamy said.

Women lodge harassment complaint against Shankar

To make matters worse, the two women who slammed their scooty into Shankar's car, approached the LB Nagar police station and filed a complaint that Shankar misbehaved with them. They were accompanied by a person Mahesh who allegedly gave three different versions of the attack to the police. The police, however, are of the opinion that Mahesh's statement was inconsistent, after they finished reconstructing the scene of crime.

Plan was to assassinate Shankar, say colleagues

According to Lingaswamy, Shankar had been critical of the Revanth Reddy Government ever since the Congress came to power in Telangana.

"Shankar has written a series of articles attacking the Congress Government over issues of sand mafia, problems of autorickshaw drivers, power cuts and drinking water. A couple of days before the attack, Shankar wrote a story on farmers' lands being forcefully taken away in Kodangal in the name of development. Several Congress party workers called Shankar and threatened to kill him. This was an orchestrated attack to assassinate him," he said.

The LB Nagar police are currently investigating into the case. Meanwhile, Shankar is recovering in hospital.