I-T dept raids Dainik Bhaskar, UP channel

THE OPPOSITION SAID THE RAIDS WERE MOTIVATED BY CRITICAL COVERAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT’S MANAGEMENT OF THE PANDEMIC

NEW DELHI: The income tax department on Thursday conducted raids at the premises of Dainik Bhaskar Group across the country in a suspected tax evasion case, prompting reactions from the company as well as opposition politicians that this was motivated by critical coverage of the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The search operations spanned the cities of Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Jaipur (Rajasthan), Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and several places in Maharashtra.

Subsequently, the I-T teams also raided a regional news channel, Bharat Samachar based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and premises of its state head Virendra Singh and editor-in-chief Brajesh Mishra.

Opposition parties alleged that the raids were an attack on journalism and was being done to scare the journalists. They added that raids on Dainik Bhaskar were carried out for its reportage on Covid-19 mismanagement by the Narendra Modi government during the second wave in April and May.

“Through its reporting Dainik Bhaskar has exposed the Modi regime’s monumental mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now paying the price. An Undeclared Emergency as (former Union minister) Arun Shourie has said — this is a Modified Emer

gency,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh too chimed in, terming it an attack on journalism.

Singh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah were using the investigative agencies like the Income Tax department, Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as weapons against the media.

He also raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha.

Responding to the Opposition’s charges, Union minister Anurag Thakur said the agencies are doing their work and there is no interference in it.

“Agencies do their own work, we don’t interfere in their functioning. I would also like to say that facts need to be found before reporting about any incident. Sometimes lack of information is misleading,” Thakur told reporters at a Union Cabinet briefing.

Apart from Ramesh and Singh, other opposition leaders too criticised the tax raids on media houses.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi: “Income tax raids conducted on Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar are an attempt to scare the media. Their message is clear-- those who speak against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not be spared. This kind of thinking is very dangerous. Everyone should raise their voice against it,” Kejriwal said in his tweet posted in Hindi.” He urged the raids should be stopped immediately and media should be allowed to function freely.

Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said the raids are an attempt to suppress the media, adding the Modi government cannot tolerate even the slightest criticism. “This is the fascist mentality of BJP which does not like to see the mirror of truth in democracy,” Gehlot tweeted.

Founded by Ramesh Chandra Aggarwal in 1958 in Bhopal, Dainik Bhaskar has a strong presence in the Hindi heartland, with 65 editions in 12 states. It is published in three languages, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati.

During the peak of the second wave, the newspaper published a series of articles to show the actual scale of devastation on account of the pandemic and on the undercounting of deaths in many states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

There was no official statement from Bhaskar group but it ran a lead story on its website saying “the government is scared of true journalism”. “Government exerts pressure on Bhaskar Group, which showed actual figures of Covid-19 deaths and bodies floating in the Ganga river,” the story said.

The group said the raids were carried out at the homes of many staffers. The mobile phones of those in office were seized and they were not being allowed to go out, it said.

“Officials involved in the raids said this was part of the process and they will be released after panchmana proceedings are done,” it said, adding that the digital team working on the night shift was released only at 12.30 pm.

The group alleged that the search teams had no women members when they raided its Bhopal and Ahmedabad digital wing offices where women staffers were present.

Senior income tax officers in the team have not clarified the reason for these searches till now, it said.

Bharat Samachar TV said on its official Twitter handle that searches are being conducted at the “house of its Editor-inchief Brajesh Mishra, state head Virendra Singh, houses of some employees and the channel office”.

Tax sleuths also raided some premises linked to BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Harraiya assembly seat Ajay Singh and his associates. It was, however, not immediately clear if the raids were connected to the media groups.

SENIOR IT OFFICERS HAVE NOT CLARIFIED THE REASON FOR THESE SEARCHES TILL NOW