On April 16 this year, the front page of the
Dainik Bhaskar newspaper, the largest circulated daily in the country, carried a haunting image that would define India’s deadly second wave of COVID-19. It was a photograph of multiple burning pyres in the city of Bhopal.
On May 14,
Dainik Bhaskar published another haunting photo, This one showed corpses floating in the river Ganga, and the headline said ‘Ganga is ashamed’. The story said some 2000 bodies could be found.
Throughout the pandemic’s second wave, the media group did some of the most hard hitting stories on the COVID-19 crisis, from lack of oxygen in hospitals to the under reporting of the dead. They had dispatched over 40 reporting teams across 12 states. One of their editors, Om Gaur, recently wrote an oped for
Highlights
The agency claims to have seized over Rs 3 crore in cash
New Delhi: Days after conducting raids on offices of Bharat Samachar, the Income Tax Department said that it has found unaccounted transactions to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
The department had conducted a search operation on July 22 in Lucknow, Basti, Varanasi, Jaunpur and Kolkata.
It said that it seized over Rs 3 crore in cash and placed 16 lockers under restraint.
“Cash of more than Rs. 3 crore has been seized and 16 lockers have been placed under restraint. Documents including incriminating digital evidence indicating nearly Rs. 200 crore of unaccounted transactions have been seized,” an official statement read.
Dainik Bhaskar Group evaded taxes on Rs 700 crore of income over 6 years: IT Department indiatoday.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatoday.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NEW DELHI: A day after the income tax department conducted multi-city searches on the offices of Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar on charges of alleged tax evasion, the Editors Guild of India said it is worried that government agencies are being used as a “coercive tool” to suppress free and independent journalism.
“The Editors Guild of India is concerned about the income tax raids on July 22 at the offices of country’s leading newspaper group Dainik Bhaskar as well as a Lucknow-based independent news channel Bharat Samachar,” it said in a statement.
Apart from EGI, the Press Club of India, Community to Protect Journalists and the Indian Women Press Corps also condemned the action against the media groups, each alleging that the agencies’ action was an attempt to “intimidate” and deter independent media.
Editors Guild Expresses Concern Over Income Tax Raids on Dainik Bhaskar, Bharat Samachar
The timing of the raids, which come against the backdrop of in-depth reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic by Dainik Bhaskar , is concerning, said the media body in a statement.
Security personnel stand guard at the residence of the owner of Dainik Bhaskar Group Sudhir Agarwal after Income Tax department raided his premises, in Bhopal, July 22, 2021. Photo: PTI
Rights23/Jul/2021
New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India on Friday issued a statement expressing concern over the income tax raids on July 22 at the offices of one of the countryâs leading newspaper group,