Bhubaneswar: Soon after opposition BJP termed the EOW raid on the office of Sambad in a loan fraud case as ‘sponsored’ attack to scuttle the voice of media, ruling BJD nobody, including any media house, is above law.
BJD’s spokesman Lenin Mohanty, in a release, said if the owner of a media house has earned crores of rupees by committing fraud, he cannot be spared by law of the land as there are no separate laws for him.
“A few months back, Income Tax and GST raids were carried out on national media houses like Dainik Bhaskar and NDTV. The media houses faced the raids through legal means and did not create a hue and cry by terming it as vindictive,” Mohanty said.
“Similarly, GST sleuths conducted sudden raid on the office of Nandighosh TV in our state a few days back. This time also the media house took the help of legal means instead of telecasting news condemning the raid. They cooperated with the raid and the GST officials seized some document. It must be remembered that no media house is above law,” he added.
Stating that around 300 employees of Sambad including journalists and other officials have alleged loan fraud by the company, he said it amounted to more than Rs 100 crore. Questioning the people, who are supporting the Sambad, he demanded to know how they knew that the fraud was not committed by Soumya Patnaik, the owner of the media house.
Also Read: Odisha EOW Raid On Sambad: ‘Politically-Motivated’ Attack To Scuttle Voice Of Media, Says BJP
