Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister N Chinarajappa said that strict action would be taken by the state government, on those who attack journalists.

On Monday a high power committee meeting was held in the Interim Government Complex at Velagapudi to discuss how preventing to prevent such attacks.

Stating that a committee would be formed for each district, Chinarajappa also asked the police to investigate the attack against reporter Nagarjuna Reddy and submit a report.

In February this year, TDP MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan’s brother, Amanchi Swamulu, and his associates, chased down and thrashed a journalist on the streets of Chirala in Andhra’s Prakasam district.

The journalist was punched, kicked and beaten with a stick by a group of people in the middle of the street in broad daylight. 

The assault eventually stopped after a policeman intervened.

The journalist who had been assaulted, M Nagarjuna Reddy was a senior journalist for a local television channel and also ran a monthly magazine.

He had earlier published a report on the financial dealings of Krishna Mohan and Swamulu. 

The report alleged that the duo fraudulently obtained loans meant for economically backward persons.

Angered by the report, Swamulu and his men chased Nagarjuna down, in the streets near Gandhi Statue Centre and beat him up.

Krishna Mohan later defended the actions of his brother.

By calling his brother’s action to be an emotional reaction to “abusive language” that the journalist had used against them, he told CNN News-18, “This is not gunda raj. He used abusive language. He is not journalist he is ‘pseudo-naxal’.”