SILCHAR: A retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was the subject of a first information report (FIR) on Friday for allegedly threatening a journalist for his TV channel's coverage of a protest involving his son, a police officer.
The FIR was filed against Hitesh Dev Sarma under sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation and death threat), 352 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace), and 296 (obscene acts in public places) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the Pathshala police station, according to Tribayan Bhuyan, the additional superintendent of police (Addl SP) for Bajali district.
In 2022, Sarma left her position as Assam's state coordinator for the National Register of Citizens (NRC).Rana Deka, a journalist, was invited by the Bajali police to come to the police station on Saturday so that his statement could be recorded. Sarma will shortly receive a notice to record his statement, according to the senior police officer.
The journalist, who works for the Guwahati-based news channel NKTV, claims in the FIR that Sarma called him on Thursday to voice his disapproval of a news report about the violence outside Baksa district jail on October 15, when the police were moving five people who had been detained in connection with singer Zubeen Garg's death per a court order.

Deka claimed that several police officers, including Baksa Addl SP Geetartha Dev Sarma, the son of Hitesh Dev Sarma, were using force against demonstrators in their coverage of the demonstration, which he and three other colleagues had done.
"Hitesh told me over the phone that we defamed his son's reputation by using altered videos. Deka stated, "I attempted to persuade him, but he started threatening me.
He claims that the retired official warned him that his 8-year-old son would be struck by a speeding car on the way home from school.He responded, "Who would assist if such things occurred? I then filed a report at the Pathshala Police Station because this was obviously a death threat. We have given the police the audio tape of the exchange," Deka informed HT.
HT contacted Sarma to get his perspective on the accusation. Several phone calls and a text message asking for his opinion have gone unanswered.