New Delhi: The Gujarat Police’s raids at journalist Ravi Nair’s homes in Delhi and Kerala over forgery allegations has raised questions over the scope of the seizure, with officers allegedly taking devices belonging to his son and colleague, people not named in the case, besides an old pen drive and a printout of an article on the Adani Group.
The searches came a week after the Gujarat High Court refused to quash the FIR against Nair, which accuse him of offences including forgery and cheating in a case stemming from his social media posts about a report he had co-authored in The Washington Post.
The FIR was registered by the Gujarat Police after receiving a complaint from Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd. The Washington Post report alleged that the Life Insurance Company made investments in the Adani Group on the instructions of the Union government.
The Gujarat police allegedly seized five devices including Nair’s colleague Sachi Hegde’s laptop, IPad and Nair’s son’s laptop.
The raids came a week after the Gujarat High Court refused to quash the FIR against Nair for forgery.
Earlier, an Ahmedabad court had authorised the police to search Nair’s residence and if necessary “seize the devices safely”. However, neither Hegde nor Nair’s son are the accused or named anywhere in the case.
“The Gujarat police accompanied by the Delhi Police first showed us a search warrant issued by an Ahmedabad court and asked us which was Ravi’s room,” said Hegde, Nair’s friend. She told ThePrint that the police then turned his room upside down and seized a 10-year-old pen drive and a print of a news article on Adani.
“We kept saying that Ravi and his wife had moved to Kerala and have been staying there for two years,” said Hegde.
The Gujarat Police allegedly then picked up an old laptop and two old phones that were lying in the house unused. “The laptop and phones were all dead and out of use for 4-5 years,” she added.
She said the police then asked about three devices—two laptops and one iPad that belong to Hegde and his son. “We both showed them our iCloud accounts as proof that the devices belong to us. First they took a photograph of the devices and then after an exchange of phone calls, they told us that the team in Kerala had learnt from Ravi that he owns our devices,” Hegde said.
The police then sealed the devices and the video recording of the seizure in the presence of two witnesses. “We kept requesting for a hash value (unique digital fingerprint for data) but the police did not give us one,” she added.
Meanwhile, at Nair’s Kerala residence, two of his phones were seized.
An officer from the Ahmedabad Crime Branch confirmed the searches and seizures and said that three laptops and two cell phones were seized.
Nair has been booked under several sections of the BNS relating to cheating and forgery committed with the intent to harm the reputation of any party and using fake or forged paper or digital file as real. This FIR against Nair is based on his social media posts relating to the report and not the article he had co-authored.
ThePrint has reached out to the Gujarat Police over calls and text for a comment on the allegations levelled by Nair’s friend and family. This report will be updated if and when they respond.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)