14 December,2009 08:39 AM IST | | Kaumudi Gurjar
Battle of journalists beaten by builder goes to town with journalists' body demanding the immediate arrest of the builder; heavyweight multi-crore accused yet to be touched by city cops as he is 'absconding'
On Sunday, over 400-odd members of the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ) pressured the Collector's office demanding the immediate arrest of city real estate developer Anil Seolekar who allegedly beat up and attempted to strangle a local journalist.
The protesters submitted a letter to the Collector Chandrakant Dalvi and a copy to DCP Satish Khandare.
According to the police complaint, Yogesh Kute (35) senior reporter of Marathi daily Sakaal and president of PUWJ along with a stringer of the same newspaper Sandeep Jagdale, was allegedly tied up and beaten for two hours by Seolekar and six of his aides at the latter's Mundhawa residence on Saturday.
Vendetta attack
Kute had written an article on one of Seolekar's projects Florida Estates, where Seolekar lives, stating that residents were unhappy as amenities and water supply did not meet promised standards. Miffed by the article, Seolekar allegedly called Kute and Jagdale to his house where he locked the duo in a room and forcibly made him write an apology letter while hitting the two constantly during the entire episode.
Seolekar also allegedly tried to strangulate Kute and later confiscated his cell phone while deleting all contact data from his phone and grabbed the two journalists identity cards and photocopied them.
Accused absconding
"We have arrested Jerome Devdas (49),a cook at Seolekar's residence. We have interrogated 14 to 15 people in connection with the case," said DCP Jalindar Supekar. Police have booked Seolekar under charges of attempt to murder, unlawful confinement and rioting.
Terence Divas, a sales manager, has also been arrested.
He added that Seolekar himself was yet to be arrested as he was missing. "We have checked all his possible hide-outs but couldn't find him. Investigations are on," he added.
(With inputs from Alifiya Khan)
