EDITOR’S NOTE: A prior version of this story described RED FM as a southeast Asian radio station. RED FM is a south Asian radio station. Global News apologizes for this error.
A Calgary radio host is speaking out after he was attacked outside a banquet hall in northeast Calgary over the weekend.
Rishi Nagar — news director at RED FM, a south Asian station in Calgary — says he left the Rio Banquet Hall around 3 p.m. Sunday when he was approached by two men.
“They used some bad words, bad language, foul language, and then gave me a thrashing,” Nagar says.
CCTV footage provided by RED FM shows the moment one of the two men started punching Nagar in the face and knocking him to the ground, leaving him with severe injuries to his left eye.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Calgary police told Global News there are no suspects in custody and that the investigation is ongoing.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Rishi told media about a story that he reported on last week involving two men outside the Dashmesh Culture Centre on Sept. 24.
According to police, two men were arrested at that time without incident and now face multiple weapons charges.
Prior to the attack, Rishi says the two men who confronted him on Sunday told him that his story was “not accurate.”
Nagar believes the story is the reason behind the attack and feels it wasn’t just an attack on him personally but an “attack on journalism” and “suppression of freedom of expression.”
“I want to make one this abundantly clear: I will not be silenced,” Nagar says. “These cowardly actions will not deter me or my colleagues from continuing our work, nor will they dissuade the press on reporting on matters of public interest.”
Nagar is looking into legal action.