Kerala Police Raid Reporter TV Office in Messi Match Cheating Probe
Kerala Police's SIT raided Reporter TV's office and four other premises in a cheating case over a failed plan to bring Lionel Messi's Argentina team to Kochi.
A special investigation team of the Kerala Police on Wednesday searched five locations, including the office of Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC), which runs Reporter TV, as part of a cheating investigation into the company's failure to stage an international football match in Kochi featuring Argentina's team led by former captain Lionel Messi. RBC was the sponsor of the proposed event.
The searches followed an FIR registered days earlier by the Kochi city police against Reporter TV managing director and editor Anto Augustine and RBC. Augustine is the first accused and the company the second. The case invokes provisions dealing with cheating by personation, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, and criminal conspiracy.
According to the FIR, Augustine and others conspired before December 2024 and fabricated agreements with the Argentina Football Association, allegedly cheating the Kerala government and drawing illegal financial gains. The accused are also accused of inducing the government to hand over the international stadium in Kochi to RBC.
After the Congress-led government took office, the Sports Department examined RBC's claim and allegedly found financial misappropriation and tax evasion linked to the event. The FIR was registered on an intimation from the SIT. A day after it was filed, police searched the homes of Augustine and his brothers in Kochi and Wayanad, along with the RBC office.
Wednesday's operation was broadcast live. Channel journalists said their telecast was disrupted by police action at the studio, an allegation the police denied. ADGP P Vijayan said the SIT had ordered a preliminary probe, gathered Sports Department reports and recorded statements before registering the FIR and securing a search warrant from the magistrate's court. He said the news telecast was not disrupted, no journalist's mobile phone was seized, and the entire process was videographed.
Augustine said the company had cooperated with the investigation and described the action as an attempt to silence the media. He questioned why the news desk was raided and journalists' phones taken, and asked whether journalists would need consent from Opposition leader V D Satheesan or Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to bring him news.
Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the raid, calling it reminiscent of the Emergency and comparing it to media crackdowns in BJP-ruled states and the raid on the Newsclick office. He demanded that the Chief Minister and Home Minister answer for what he called an attack on press freedom.