As authorities conveniently turn a blind eye to mining within the eco-sensitive zone around Bannerghatta National Park in greater Bengaluru, journalists trying to cover the illegal activity were allegedly attacked and threatened on Thursday afternoon. Three people have been taken into custody in connection with the incident.

News 9 TV journalist Nabeela Jamaluddin and her colleagues had gone to Tulasipura in Jigani taluk in the outskirts of Bengaluru to report on one crusher unit on Thursday afternoon. It was while leaving the spot that their cab was surrounded by musclemen who blocked their way for 25 minutes. All this while, around six to seven men abused the TV news crew and asked for the footage to be deleted.

“Seven people came and surrounded our car as we were moving towards the main road. They blocked our vehicle and started banging on our windows and threatened us to step out of the car. When we refused to step out, they started banging on our windows again and also threatened my car driver of dire consequences,” a part of Nabeela’s complaint copy reads.

“The goons insisted we delete the footage right in front of them. When we refused to delete it, they continued to threaten and intimidate us by constantly banging on the window and using vulgar language,” she said in her complaint.