Undoubtedly, the brutal arsonist attack on RaajjeTelevision is one of the most frightening incidents to have occurred in recent Maldivian history.

It was the baring ringtones of their phones and the sharp shriek of a fire truck siren slicing through the air that RaajjeTV staff woke to that Monday morning.

The air smelt of burning plastic and iron was the only thing that remained of the expensive broadcast and transmission equipment used by the station.

The story unravels now as the picture shows that this brutal act of arson carried out through the uninterested youth.

While the vicious attack had destroyed other offices and their stock in the same building as the fire and smoke spread through the pipes the building has been rendered unfit for use.

The Maldives Police Service had early on in the investigation revealed that this wasn’t simply an act of arson but an act of organized crime backed by underhand. And the names of these criminal organizers have echoed from ear to ear as whispers to the point that it has become an open secret.

Now what thousands of people are waiting for is for the Maldives Police Service to officially identify the perpetrators. Though they claim that they’re using every resource available to them, the MPS is yet to single out any one perpetrator.
There hasn’t been a day since the controversial transfer of power on 7th February, 2012, where the RaajjeTV staff went without a threat of being assaulted.

Despite being owned by Maldivian citizens, run by Maldivian citizens and greatly supported by Maldivian citizens, this station has faced constant prejudice and discrimination from the Maldivian authorities.

RaajjeTV has been stripped of the constitutional rights that those in Office now so readily give to those that support them. The station has had to fight for their rights as an independent news outlet at “politicized” judicial system of the Maldives.

RaajjeTV is still fighting against the Presidents Office’s discrimination of the station at the Maldivian courts while the case previously passed in favour of RaajjeTV stating that the MPS had a constitutional obligation to corporate and protect RaajjeTV has been appealed at the Court.

Leaving aside the loss incurred to equipment, the perpetrators of an assassination attempt on the Station’s chief editor that hospitalized him for more than two months has still gone unpunished.

At the beginning of this October, the blueprints of a plan to hinder and completely annihilate RaajjeTV was leaked. The contents of this plan were thoroughly researched to be passed off as a simple prank. Hence state authorities were informed of this plan.

There was an abrupt rise of threats against the station and the management had taken the necessary steps to increase its security.
At 20:00hrs on the 6th of October, RaajjeTV had sent a letter to the Maldivian Police Service requesting their protection. The Police confirmed that they received the letter at 21:30 the same night. The Station had expressed an urgent need for security as the number of threats increased rapidly.

RaajjeTV staff had ended transmission covering the protests erupting throughout Male’ at 02:45 on the night of the arson attack. By then the Police had not responded to the RaajjeTV’s request for security.

The staffs, about to head home after storing away their equipment were shocked by the sound of breaking glass. Those who peeped through the windows facing Boduthakurufaanu Magu could understand that something unsettling had happened.

CCTV footage later attributed the sound of breaking glass to six masked men shattering the glass entrance to the building used by Sri Lankan airlines.

These masked men climbed every floor of the building and checked their name boards before leaving. It can be deduced that these men were at first looking for RaajjeTV’s studio and master control room.

This happened at around 04:19 and from the pictures gathered we can understand that there were pedestrians who stopped at the shattered door to click a few pictures.

After the masked arsonists were unable to find the RaajjeTV studio, five of them ride off on motorcycles against one way traffic while the sixth man gets into a car parked nearby.
While the building housing Sri Lankan airlines was being searched, half a dozen men arrive at the BKT Building – where RaajjeTV’s main studio and master control room is located.

The masked men process to forcefully enter the building and tie up the expatriate security guard who is then taken to the first floor. He is kept there while the men climb up to the second floor where RaajjeTV is located and after several minutes of trying, they manage to split an iron gate guarding the door by its hilt.

The men proceed to forcibly break open the wooden door and douse the transmission and broadcast equipment at the master control room and the lobby adjacent to it in some flammable liquid (most likely petroleum).

One of the masked men bends down, touches the liquid before setting it on fire – CCTV footage indicates that he may have sustained burns from the fire.

The masked men then assault the security guard who was held on the first floor, stabbing him before dousing him in petroleum and throwing him towards the fire.

Five of the six men left but soon returned once they realize that they one of them was still inside the building. The sixth man has been identified as the one who was likely to be burnt as he set fire to the RaajjeTV studio.

Eye witnesses from the Hulhule’ Ferry terminal that lies exactly opposite to the building stated that they had been trying to call the Police hotline 119 since the masked men broke into the BKT Building but the Police had failed to respond to their calls.
The Police only came to the scene after one of the passersby had run to a Police vehicle parked about 200 feet away from the scene to tell them about the vandalizing masked men.

It can be deduced from the CCTV footage that a group of dozen men were hired to burn down RaajjeTV offices. The dozen men were split into two groups and tasked with burning down both RaajjeTV studios. They failed to locate one of the studios, the one that was used to cover the September 7 elections.

Another set of CCTV footage shows that these men put on their masks and prepared for the attack at Ameer Ahmed road. The masked men operated near the area for roughly thirty minutes. They had attacked two buildings and burnt one down before fleeing within this half an hour.

Once these pieces are put together it forms a picture that shows exactly how delicately the perpetrators had planned to destroy RaajjeTV by simultaneous attacking both their studios.