Messi event row: Police conduct search at Reporter TV office in Kochi
Police searched Reporter TV offices and homes of company heads as investigators probe alleged ₹25.78 crore tax evasion tied to the Messi visit plan.
- On Wednesday, the Special Investigation Team raided five locations connected to the Reporting Broadcasting Corporation , including its Kalamassery headquarters and residences of managing director Anto Augustine and his brothers, in connection with a failed initiative to bring Lionel Messi to Kerala.
- The investigation stems from alleged financial misappropriation linked to an initiative to bring the Argentina national team to Kerala during the previous LDF government's tenure, with the SIT claiming tax evasion by the company.
- Thrikkakara Assistant Commissioner of Police C.K. Bijoy Chandran led the search at the RBC headquarters around 6 a.m., where RBC sources alleged officers seized journalists' mobile phones and disrupted newsroom operations.
- Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the operation as a "one-and-a-half-hour-long terrorising situation," while the Kerala Union of Working Journalists denounced it as an "assault on democracy" and an attack on press freedom.
- The SIT's Detailed Inquiry Report estimates tax evasion at ₹25,78,20,675, including unpaid IGST on foreign remittances to the Argentina Football Association , and recommends a multi-agency probe into undisclosed bank accounts and inflated expenditure claims.
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26 Articles
Messi visit probe: SIT found necessary evidence during raids, says Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala - The Tribune
Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had gathered necessary evidence during raids at the offices of news channel Reporter TV and its owners' residences as part of its probe into alleged financial irregularities linked to the proposed visit of Lionel Messi and the Argentine football team to the state.
Keralam: SIT Searches Reporter TV Office, Promoters' Premises over Alleged Messi Visit Fraud; CM Satheesan Says Raid Part of Legitimate Probe
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police on Wednesday conducted extensive search operations at the headquarters of Malayalam news channel Reporter TV and the residences of its promoters, the Augustine brothers, in connection with an alleged fraud case related to the proposed visit of football icon Lionel Messi to the state. India News | Keralam: SIT Searches Reporter TV Offic…
Messi visit SIT probe: police launch searches at five locations
Apart from head office of Reporting Broadcasting Corporation, residences of its managing director Anto Augustine and those of his brothers and co-owners, Roji Augustine and Jose Kutty Augustine, as well as the house of administrative head are being searched
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