Tax raid on Indian newspaper after cover-up reports

ONE of India’s leading independent news organisations has been raided by tax officials, in a move linked by opposition politicians to its coverage of the government’s Covid response.

The Dainik Bhaskar Group, which reported that deaths had been undercounted in the home state of leader Narendra Modi, said it believed it was being singled out for its news coverage.

Its Hindi-language daily revealed that the bodies of 2,000 alleged Covid victims had been buried in shallow graves along the banks of the Ganga.

“The government is scared of true journalism; it is trying to browbeat the Bhaskar group, which highlighted dead bodies in the Ganga river and the true number of Covid deaths,” the news group said in a statement.

The Indian tax authorities did not provide details on the raids but India’s leading opposition politicians claimed the move was politically motivated.

“The attack on journalists and media houses is yet another brutal attempt to stifle democracy,” Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, said.