Keralam SIT raids Reporter TV headquarters, owners’ homes in Messi event case
Reporter TV alleges police tried to disrupt live news broadcast after barging into newsroom, seized mobile phones of journalists
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police is conducting searches at at least five properties linked to Reporter Broadcasting Corporation, including the Reporter TV office and the residences of its partners in connection with the case relating to the cancelled visit of football star Lionel Messi to Keralam and alleged financial irregularities.
The searches, according to PTI, are being conducted at locations including the Kochi residences of the Augustine brothers, proprietors of Reporter Broadcasting Company, its office, and their family home in Wayanad.
The police team, however, returned from the news channel's headquarters after an hour without conducting searches as the administrative wing was not open in the early hours. The raids are underway at the other properties.
Police are yet to disclose more on the raids.
Cops can't search newsroom, says channel
Reporter TV alleged that police personnel barged into its newsroom and tried to disrupt the broadcast of live news early on Wednesday (September 16) morning. Police had obtained a court order authorising the searches.
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However, the channel said the court order did not authorise a search of the newsroom. Reporter TV alleged that police nevertheless entered the news desk, where journalists and technical staff were working, and took the mobile phones of employees into custody, disrupting newsroom operations. Reporter TV has alleged that the seizure of mobile phones and the entry into the newsroom were aimed at disrupting the channel's broadcast operations.
Didn’t mean to disrupt news: ACP
The police said they did not disrupt the newscast and that the respondents did not receive the notice for the search. The Assistant Commissioner of Police who led the team that entered the Reporter TV office clarified that they did not know it was the newsroom and they did not want to disrupt the news.
The case relates to the proposed visit of Messi and the Argentina national football team to Keralam, which did not materialise. The SIT is examining alleged financial and procedural irregularities surrounding the event, including the selection of Reporter Broadcasting Corporation as sponsor and transactions linked to the proposed event.
Condemnable, Emergency-like aggression: Pinarayi
The Opposition LDF has decried the raids and the alleged act of disrupting live telecast of news at the channel’s office.
“The action by the Kerala Police in forcibly entering the news desk at Reporter TV headquarters and disrupting the news broadcast is highly condemnable. In the early hours of the morning, a group of police officers stormed into the news desk in Kochi and seized the phones of journalists. They created an atmosphere of terror for around one and a half hours. The police also recorded footage of the journalists,” former chief minister and Leader of Opposition in Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan said.
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“What occurred on the part of the police was an act of aggression reminiscent of the Emergency. What has happened in Kerala is similar to the attacks on the media taking place in BJP-ruled states and in Delhi, which is under the control of the central government. The action here is comparable to the raid on the NewsClick office, where equipment was seized, and the editor was imprisoned. Kerala will not accept this assault aimed at silencing the media,” he said.
He said the chief minister and the home minister should answer for such an “attack on the media.”