On May 29, the Income Tax Department mounted one of its largest raids ever on the R. Raheja Group of Companies. Apparently, more than a thousand officials were involved in these raids in offices of group companies across India, and in the homes of Mr Raheja and senior executives of the group. Press reports today mention these raids as "raids on builders".
These are not raids on builders. These are a coarse and brutish attack on the institution of the free press in India. We have reason to believe that the raids were fundamentally directed at intimidating Outlook magazine, which is owned by the R. Raheja Group. The raids on group companies like Exide Industries and Johnson Tiles were simply a ploy to mask the real purpose of the whole operation from the public.
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What is the final outrage is that as part of the raids, Income Tax officials entered the Mumbai editorial offices of Outlook at 8:30 AM on May 29 and ransacked them till 6:30 AM on May 30. Journalists and managers were not allowed to conduct any work and were kept locked in the offices for the duration of the raid. Floppies were removed from the editorial office, diaries confiscated, bags searched Obviously, IT officials couldn't have been looking for proof of tax evasion in the undeleted files of old stories Outlook journalists filed.
We at Outlook have for some time now been getting veiled warnings from people in the Vajpayee-led government. Even so, the spirit of thuggish vendetta that is typified by this wanton assault has surprised us. The raids on Outlook are not only an attempt to silence the voice of an independent publication, they constitute a frontal attack on the Indian Press by the NDA government.
