A group of unidentified miscreants attacked a Times Now journalist and his friend outside his home in Mumbai in the wee hours of Sunday, PTI reported. Herman Gomes posted photos of his injuries on Facebook and said the attack seemed planned. The attackers were armed with a knuckle duster, he said.

“My eye is badly affected and so is my body,” the Times Now journalist wrote. “I don’t know which story affected people so much. I don’t know these people too.”

He said he got six stitches around his right eye. The Mumbai Police has assigned a senior officer to look after his case after he filed a First Information Report at the Gamdevi police station, Gomes said.

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The incident took place when the journalist and his friend got out of a cab near his home in Gamdevi locality around 1.30 am. Four to six persons waiting there started abusing Gomes and allegedly assaulted him, Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone-II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan told PTI.

Police filed a case under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 324 (voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

The motive behind the attack is not yet known, and an investigation is under way, Chavan said.

The Mumbai Press Club on Sunday condemned the attack on Gomes and demanded action against the police officer who allegedly refused to file a complaint initially. “The attacks on journalists, physical and otherwise, are on the rise,” Mumbai Press Club Secretary Lata Mishra said in a statement. “Recently, a right-wing organisation posted photos of India Today journalists, branding them as terrorists, for doing a series of stories. These acts are illegal and need to be dealt with immediate effect and resolve. We demand the arrests of attackers of Gomes and a strict action in complaints by India Today journalists.”

Rahul Kanwal, the news director of India Today channel, had last week accused Sanatan Sanstha of attempting to intimidate it by releasing the names and photos of its investigative reporters who had carried out a sting operation on two members of the Hindutva organisation.