Press Club condemns 'attempt to intimidate media'

The Press Club of India (PCI) on Tuesday expressed "concern" over CBI raids on NDTV network's premises and houses of its co-founder Prannoy Roy and said it condemned "any attempt to intimidate the media or put curbs on its freedom".

"We express grave concern over Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on NDTV premises," PCI President Gautam Lahiri said in a statement here.

He said that "while we maintain that all individuals and every institution has to abide by the law of the land, we condemn any attempt to either intimidate the media or put curbs on its freedom".

The PCI chief said all facts of the case, filed by the CBI, must be placed in the public domain and that the investigating agency should not harass the media organisation or place any hindrance in the news operations of the channel.

In a move that sparked outrage in media circles and which the NDTV said was "a blatant political attack on the freedom of the press", the CBI on Monday conducted searches at the houses of Prannoy Roy for allegedly causing financial losses to a private bank.

The CBI registered a case against Roy and his wife Radhika and conducted searches at his south Delhi residence in Greater Kailash-I and his house in Dehradun for "loss of Rs 48 crore to the ICICI Bank", officials said.

--IANS

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