‘Do police only search the courtyard during a raid on an ordinary citizen’s home’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Minister Suresh Gopi responded to the raid conducted in Reporter Channel in connection with the financial fraud case involving Messi. He was responding to questions from journalists about the police raid at the news desk. When a raid is conducted at an ordinary citizen’s house, does the police enter only the courtyard. Aren’t the phones of ordinary people taken into custody, asked the minister.

‘I am asking this openly now: Who are you all? You are all citizens, that’s all. There are photos of Amit Shah being taken away. Have you seen that? Or should I show them to you? Even if the house of a powerful businessman here is raided, the first thing they do is seize the phones. Tell me now that they don’t. They enter their kitchens and bedrooms too.
If there is a ceiling, they will break it open and search it. None of this started during Indira Gandhi’s time. I have seen this in income tax raids since my childhood. Nothing has changed in that and it will continue in the same way,’ said Suresh Gopi.

The raid was conducted simultaneously at the channel’s headquarters at Kalamassery, Kochi flats of its owners, the Augustine brothers, the office of advertising company GOTAD, and their ancestral house in Wayanad. There are indications that foreign currencies, digital documents and credit cards issued by foreign banks were taken into custody.

Managing editor Anto Augustine is the first accused, while Reporter Broadcasting Company is the second accused. The charges include fraud, cheating and conspiracy. The case was registered based on a complaint by P Vikraman, a member of the SIT, following a preliminary investigation.

The raid was carried out by a team led by Thrikkakara Assistant Police Commissioner Binoy Chandran, who is also an officer in the SIT headed by ADGP P Vijayan.