AIADMK functionary, accomplice arrested for brutal assault on Kumudam Reporter journalist

The Sivakasi police arrested two people today in connection with the brutal assault on a journalist on March 3.

K Poomurugan and V Pandiarajan were arrested after reportedly confessing to assaulting the journalist, M Karthik, with an iron rod, The Hindu reports. Karthik, a journalist with Kumudam Reporter, was badly injured.

According to The Hindu, the two accused were "pained" after reading a Kumudam Reporter story on an "intra-party feud" in the AIADMK.

The News Minute reports that Pandiarajan, one of the accused, is a "devout AIADMK functionary", according to P Perumal, superintendent of police, Virudhunagar. A police officer described both the men as "rowdies": Poomurugan has 11 pending cases against him, and Pandiarajan has seven.

The Hindu also quoted the deputy superintendent of police (Sivakasi), Prabhakaran, as saying that Pandiarajan is an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist S Karthigai Selvan.

Yesterday, DMK leader M Stalin claimed Karthik was attacked due to a news report on an alleged confrontation between dairy development minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji and Sattur MLA Rajavarman. Stalin demanded that action be taken against the minister.

The Madras Reporters Guild condemned the attack and urged the Tamil Nadu government to "ensure that journalists can function with freedom, and without fear".