Kozhikode police raiding AsiaNet News office on a fabricated case, AsiaNet News Executive Chairman Rajesh Kalra responded via Twitter. He said that this is a continuation of the developments after the attack on the Asia Net News office in Kochi and that we will fight a legal battle against it and we will stand by the staff who are working tirelessly for the development of the organization.
First Published Mar 5, 2023, 2:03 PM IST
Asianet News Kozhikode office is being searched by the police. Kozhikode police are conducting inspections as per the complaint of MLA PV Anwar. District Crime Branch Asst. A police team led by Commissioner V. Suresh is conducting inspections at the channel’s office. Vellail CI Baburaj, Nadkao CI Jijeesh Town SI VGB, ASI Deepakumar, CPOs Deepu.P, Anish, Sajitha, Cyber Cell Officer Bijit. Tehsildar C. Sreekumar and Putyangadi village officer M. Sajan were in the team.
Koyyur Land Revenue Tehsildar C. Sreekumar is also in the team. The commissioner informed the journalists of Asianet News that there was no search warrant and the investigation was being conducted using the special powers of the police.
At the same time, Asianet News Regional Editor Shahjahan said that he would fully cooperate with the inspection. The entire staff and systems of the office are cooperating with the police in this regard. Shahjahan claimed that the police were allowed to inspect all the systems in the office but protested to the authorities to stop the office operations till the inspection was completed.
Since last month, PV Anwar MLA’s comments to shut down Asianet News are currently being circulated on social media. Then there was a discussion regarding this in the assembly as well. After that, the MLA filed a complaint in the police station, the next day the police registered a case and the police went to Asianet News and conducted an investigation. The police, who are not interested in many serious cases, are showing zeal in this case, raising many suspicions. In the past, sensational news about PV Anwar MLA’s land grab, construction of dam, foreign trip and many controversial incidents came out in Asianet News. Since then, many journalists’ associations are expressing their anger that the leaders of the ruling party are determined to strangle the news channel.
Meanwhile, Asia Net News Executive Chairman Rajesh Kalra responded to this incident through Twitter. He said that the Kozhikode police is raiding the office of Asia Net News on a fabricated case, which is a continuation of the developments after the attack on the office of Asia Net News in Kochi. He expressed hope that his team would crack the ongoing conspiracies.
