Journalist claims he was attacked by congressional staff in Texas for asking Rahul Gandhi if he would speak to US lawmakers about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

An India Today journalist was allegedly attacked by Congressmen in the United States last week ahead of Rahul Gandhi's visit to the country.

India Today correspondent Rohit Sharma claimed that he was attacked by Congressmen in Dallas after he asked Sam Pitroda in his interview whether Rahul Gandhi would raise the issue of attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus during meetings with lawmakers in the US.

The reporter said his cell phone was snatched and he was asked to delete the interview.

Sharma said he contacted Sam Pitroda, chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, for an exclusive interview, hours before Gandhi's scheduled arrival at Dallas International Airport.

The whole interview went well, until the journalist's last question.

“Will Rahul Gandhi raise the issue of Hindus killed in Bangladesh in his meetings with US lawmakers?” asked journalist Pitroda.

But before Sam could fully answer the question, chaos broke out: One person in the room yelled that the question was “controversial,” and others joined in, raising their voices, according to the journalist's report.

They attacked him, snatched his phone and deleted the entire video of the interview.

“Sam was visibly as shaken as I was and called for calm. But Rahul's supporters and his team had made their decision. One person tried to take away my microphone but I resisted. They managed to stop the recording by forcibly taking away my phone,” Sharma said.

Later, at least 15 men remained in the room and demanded that Sharma remove the last question from the interview.

He insisted, saying that the issue was not controversial and that their actions were unethical.

However, they went ahead and took his phone and searched it. They even tried to delete the interview. The staff refused to leave Sharma alone and forced him to delete the interview.

Congress staff then unlocked Sharma's phone without his consent and deleted the interview from the folder.

“They were determined to ensure that no trace of the interview was left and even checked my iCloud – my phone was in airplane mode while recording, so the video could not be synced,” Sharma said of his ordeal.

Responding to Sharma's allegations, Sam Pitroda said he was not aware of the incident but remembered having a good conversation with Rohit Sharma that day.

“I am not aware of any of this. I was not there. I was not taken away by anyone. I had to leave because I was late. If something like this happened, I will investigate and follow up,” he said.

Sam Pitroda said he does not condone anyone being mistreated and abused for the sake of a free press.

“I wish Rohit Sharma had spoken to me before going public. He decided to go public without speaking to me,” he said. India today reported.

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