04 October 2017

Questioned by Gujarat police over Adani story: Aussie journalists


Questioned by Gujarat police over Adani story: Aussie journalists


                                             


Adani is developing a mega coal mine in Australia, and many sections in that country are against the project

A team of journalists working on a story on the Adani Group for Four Corners, an investigative journalism programme aired on ABC TV on Monday evenings, has said they were questioned by Gujarat Police “on and off for nearly five hours” in their hotel a day after they arrived at Mundra in Kutch district for filming the report.

The team, led by reporter Stephen Long, was heard saying in the report aired on Monday: “A senior policeman kept going outside and talking to someone on his mobile phone and whenever he would return, the questioning, the hostility, would ramp up.”

While attempting to film and gather information about Adani’s operations, the Four Corners team claimed, they were forced to leave Mundra at 4 am. The police told them that if they stayed they would have “three intelligence services coming to see us the next day”, says Long in the aired report. The link to the report was posted on the Four Corners Twitter handle.

The Kutch (West) police confirmed that foreign journalists were questioned for allegedly shooting in and around Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) of Adani Group late August.

“We questioned the journalists as they were foreign nationals and were shooting vital installations without permission from authorities,” Kutch (West) SP Makrand Chauhan told The Indian Express. Chauhan was transferred out of Kutch last week as part of an IPS reshuffle.

Adani is developing a mega coal mine in Australia, and many sections in that country are against the project.

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