Calgary radio host attacked 

Radio host Rishi Nagar was assaulted by two people in Calgary, in an incident he believes was related to his reporting on a recent criminal incident and extortion targeting the city’s South Asian community. 

Nagar is a radio host and news director for Red FM, a Calgary-based South Asian radio station. On Sept. 29, 2024, he was at a political event at a banquet hall in Calgary, he said in a press conference. He went outside the hall to take a phone call, and was followed by two men. A video of the incident shows one waving at Nagar, who can be seen shaking hands with both men. 

The men then walked a short distance with Nagar on the sidewalk, before one began to punch him repeatedly in the face. Nagar’s eye was seriously injured during the attack. 

Nagar said that before the assault, the men said that they were “not happy” with what they described as “inaccuracies” in Nagar’s reporting the previous week on the arrest of two men for allegedly threatening people and brandishing a gun outside a Sikh community centre in Calgary.

A Calgary police spokesperson confirmed that police are investigating whether the incident was connected to Nagar’s previous reporting, CBC reported.  

Nagar said he had known one of the attackers for several years, but did not know the second attacker. 

“The attack I endured was not simply an act of physical violence; it was a brazen attempt to intimidate, to silence and to prevent a free press from doing its job. I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I will not be silenced,” Nagar said.

On Oct. 8, 2024, Calgary police said a 27-year-old Calgary resident, Dilpreet Singh, had been charged with assaulting Nagar.