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NEW DELHI:
Indian counter-terrorism units raided the office of The Kashmir Times over its alleged role in a “criminal conspiracy”, police said, with the news website calling the accusations “baseless” on Friday.
The State Investigation Agency (SIA) said the search late Thursday was part of an investigation into the Kashmir Times over their alleged involvement in a “criminal conspiracy with secessionist and other anti-national entities operating within and outside Jammu and Kashmir”.
The outlet rejected the allegations, and said the office that was raided has been shut for the last four years and “out of operation”.
The Kashmir Times, which started in 1954, became an online-only publication after one of its other offices was raided and sealed in 2022.
“The accusations levelled against us are designed to intimidate, to delegitimize, and ultimately to silence,” the outlet wrote in a statement on Friday.
SIA said it had seized a revolver, as well as a handful of live round and empty bullet cases, during the search.
“These recoveries indicate possible unlawful possession and suspected linkages with extremist or anti-national elements, warranting further detailed investigation,” it said.
Authorities also raided the residence of the Kashmir Times’ owner Prabodh Jamwal.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement that the raids were “deeply troubling and raise concerns about increasing pressure on media outlets in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government annulled the region’s partial constitutional autonomy, several journalists in the region have been subject to harassment and arrests. Their publications and homes have also bene raided.
Indian police have also carried out sweeping searches across the region since a deadly November 10 car explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort, which security forces said was carried out by a Kashmiri suicide bomber.
No connection has been made between the news site raid and the Delhi explosion.
