Hyderabad: Journalists are angry at being treated like suspects and being photographed by an intelligence official at a press conference called by the Director General of Police on Thursday.
Reporters were asking questions about Maoists and the Kodandaram agitation when they found themselves being photographed. They demanded answers from DGP Anurag Sharma who downplayed the incident and pacified the reporters, saying that the police has no intention of mounting a surveillance on journalists.
Senior journalists, however, alleged that the cop who clicked the photographs must have received orders from higher officials to keep track of news reporters who cover sensitive issues like Maoism, terror and anti-Telangana state protests.
Some reporters believe that it could be an intimidating tactic by police in order to silence outspoken journalists, or the police could be cataloguing reporters covering specific areas.
To all their questions, a smiling DGP answered that there is no way the police track journalists secretly. "We have no such intentions. Telangana state police has good relationship with journalists," he said.
When a journalist asked if the police intend to book cases against and arrest journalists because they cover certain issues, the DGP laughed it off and assured them that nothing of that sort will happen.
