KOZHIKODE: The tussle between the ruling CPM and the Asianet News, one of the leading news channels in Kerala, has worsened with the police conducting a search at the channel office here on Sunday.
The raid, led by Crime Branch Assistant Commissioner V Suresh lasted around four hours. The channel sources said that nothing was recovered in the search.
Police had registered a case against the channel on a complaint filed by CPM MLA P V Anvar, who alleged that the channel had resorted to some malpractices in a programme aired recently.
The programme titled ‘Narcotics is a dirty business’ was part of the series on the rising drug abuse in the state and the victims who fell prey to the designs of the drug mafia. Anwar had also raised the issue in the Assembly.
The allegation was that the reporter of the channel used the voice of a victim who appeared in another programme telecast by the same channel for the new series. It was also alleged that another girl’s visual was used by the channel to present as that of a new victim and added the voice of the old victim. There was a hue and cry from various corners that it was not proper for the channel to resort to such practices.
The issue became complicated with the channel coming up with an explanation from the father of the victim to prove that the news was correct and the channel had done nothing wrong. But it was again alleged that there was a complaint against the father himself that he had molested the girl.
CPM has been complaining that Asianet News has an agenda to destabilise the LDF government at the behest of the ruling party at the Centre. The channel has aired many stories that were embarrassing for the government and the CPM. The fact that Rajiv Chandrasekhar, a minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, owns the channel was cited to be the reason for the channel’s antagonism towards the CPM.
The party suspected that the channel was trying to vindicate the charge of the Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan, who had charged that Kerala has replaced Punjab the ‘capital of drugs.’ The activists of the SFI barged into the office of the Asianet News in Eranakulam on Thursday to register their protest against the ‘fake news.’
At the same time, Asianet News Network executive chairman Rajiv Kalra said police raided the channel office “in a fabricated case.”
“This follows SFI’s disruptive activity at our Kochi office yesterday. Attempt to browbeat us would fail. We are taking legal action and stand with our team as it exposes every wrongdoing across the spectrum,” he Tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties in Kerala have condemned the action against the channel and said it amounts to intimidating the media. Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the action against Asianet News is similar to the one initiated against the BBC.
“Pinarayi Vijayan is acting like Modi, who took action against BBC for bringing out a documentary on the him,” Chennithala said. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has also protested the police action against the Asianet News.