Haresh Deol, co-founder and editor of independent news site Twentytwo13, was attacked at about 3.30pm in Bangsar, a busy commercial district south of central Kuala Lumpur, shortly after leaving a meeting.
As he walked towards his car, two men confronted him while a third knocked him to the ground and filmed the assault on a mobile phone, according to an account published by Twentytwo13.
The assailants fled without taking any of his belongings. Deol, who later filed a police report, was left with cuts to his elbows and bruising to his face. He also wrote about the attack in a brief post on social media.
Investigators were working to identify the suspects and would seek a court order to support further inquiries, Brickfields district police chief Hoo Chang Hook said in a statement, confirming that officers had received a report at 4pm.
