Itahari, September 28:

Employees of the Saptakoshi FM, who were dismissed from their jobs recently, vandalised the gate of the FM station at Itahari today. Four persons, including managing director of the FM station, were injured in the scuffle.

The furore erupted after a group of former FM employees, including Sanjeev Regmi, tried to enter the station after vandalising the main gates, chief of the station’s news department Lila Raj Bhattarai said.

MD Krishna Dahal, shareholder Prem Basnet, accountant Sanjeev Dahal and guard Bhim Limbu were injured in the scuffle between the dismissed employees and management.

The management accused the sacked employees of launching an attack and uttering obscenities. The management added that the same group of employees had vandalised the branch office of Saptakoshi FM at Biratnagar and manhandled station manager Sunil Neupane.

Dismissed employee Sanjeev Regmi said they were sacked without any reason. He added that they were barred from entering the FM station premises when they merely wanted to hold talks with the FM officials. Officials of trade unions affiliated to the CPN-Maoists, Jana Morcha and Nepali Congress also accompanied the employees to the FM premises.

Meanwhile, more than 10 employees of the FM station issued a statement today seeking peace and security at their workplace. The employees alleged that they were threatened by Regmi’s group and added that they had been trapped on the FM station premises since the past two days.

The dismissed employees staged a sit-in in front of the FM station office and padlocked it yesterday as well, because of which the employees inside the FM were unable to leave.

Station MD Krishna Dahal admitted that some employees were dismissed after a verbal directive.