I-T raids at The Quint, home of founder Raghav Bahl

Income Tax department officials reportedly searched the The Quint's Noida offices, and the residence of the founder of the news portal, Raghav Bahl, on Thursday. Speaking to PTI, the I-T officials said the raids were in connection to a “tax evasion case”. A survey was also conducted at the Bengaluru offices of The News Minute, where Bahl's Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd is an investor. The move evoked widespread outrage among the media fraternity.

In a statement to the Editor's Guild, Bahl wrote that they were a fully tax compliant entity, and that they would provide all access to all appropriate financial documents. “I have a matter of great concern to share with the Guild,” he wrote. “While I was in Mumbai this morning, dozens of IT officials descended on my residence and The Quint’s office for a “survey”. We are a fully tax compliant entity, and will provide all access to all appropriate financial documents. However, I have just spoken to the officer on my premises, one Mr Yadav, and requested him, strongly, to not try and pick up or see any other mail/document which is likely to contain very serious/sensitive journalistic material.”

“If they do that, then we shall seek extremely strong recourse. I do hope the EG will back us on this, and thereby set a precedent for any such exercise that may happen on any other journalistic entity in the future. They should also not misuse their smartphones to take unauthorised copies of this material. I am now on my way back to Delhi.”

Poonam Aggarwal, an associate editor with the The Quint, tweeted that the officers were even trying to clone data from the gadgets of Ritu Kapur, co-founder of Quintillion and the wife of Raghav Bahl. “IT officers are trying to clone data from @kapur_ritu's gadgets. When she screamed and asked me about the law of privacy and whether they can clone her journalistic and personal material, while I was standing outside her residence, two IT officers pulled her inside the house.”

Editorial director of The Quint, Sanjay Pugalia, tweeted that the raids were a result of the “fearless and independent journalism”. “There is “Jumla” in Income Tax Act- circumstantial evidence. Yes, the circumstantial evidence is @Raghav Bahl @TheQuint’s independent and fearless journalism. That’s why IT search & survey @TheQuint. See our coverage and decide for yourself,” he wrote.

The Quint, in an article, alleged that, apart from books of accounts, and other revenue information, the IT officers were also asking for a list of employees and their contact details. “According to the I-T officer leading the team, they are conducting a “search” on one floor of the office, and a “survey” on the other. The powers of I-T officers under these provisions of law are not the same—for instance, when a survey is conducted, the officers cannot take away anything from the premises, while they can do so during a search.”

President of the Editors Guild, Shekhar Gupta, wrote that I-T raids at The Quint offices and the residences of its founder Raghav Bahl home are a cause for serious concern. “Taxman has the right to ask all questions, but raids look like intimidation. If there is justification, govt must explain quickly. Or it will be seen as targeting critical media,” he tweeted.

Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of The News Minute, stated they were complying with the requests of the officers at the premises.