Scribe does police job

21 April 2010 07:29 am

A Daily Mirror online team in Kandy to cover the General Elections repoll were followed and video taped by a provincial journalist on the instructions of the Nawalapitiya police, according to him, and even threatened the media team from Colombo.

A red colored three wheeler overtook the vehicle of the Daily Mirror online team who were leaving Nawalapitiya after interviewing a Minister of the area and covering the General Elections re-poll, and a man from the three wheeler later emerged and started videoing the vehicle in a daring manner.

The three wheeler kept following the Daily Mirror online vehicle for a fair distance while the camera was rolling, prompting the Daily Mirror online vehicle to overtake the three wheeler and cut it off the road to inquire from the man why he was video taping.

At this point however, without giving an explanation, the man who the Daily Mirror was later told is a provincial journalist, pointed his finger towards the Daily Mirror online team and threatened them and warned them to be cautious on what they report.

Several minutes later, after Daily Mirror online informed a Minister in the area of what had transpired and through him also informed the police, Daily Mirror was informed by the provincial journalist himself that he had video taped the vehicle on a request by the police who had said they were “suspicious” of the vehicle and that the whole episode was a “misunderstanding”.

However when the matter was brought to the notice of the Nawalapitiya police the police claimed they had no knowledge of the man involved. (Daily Mirror online)

Picture shows the provincial journalist threatening the Daily Mirror online team