June 27, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1423

NEW DELHI, June 26: India’s federal investigative agency on Wednesday raided the offices of news website Tehelka.com, which is famous for exposing rampant corruption in government arms and hardware purchases.

Shoma Chaudhury, a senior journalist at Tehelka.com, said a group of 20 sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the New Delhi office at 10:30 am (0500 GMT) without offering any legal notice or explanation for the action.

“The government has been trying to browbeat Tehelka.com ever since we ran the defence expose on our news website. This raid is simply another way to beat us on our knuckles. It speaks volumes about the lack of press freedom in India,” said Chaudhury.

Tarun Tejpal, editor of Tehelka.com, said the raid took place as he was about to depose before the one-man commission set up by the government to probe the defence scam.

“I do not know why they are raiding my office but one should appreciate the timing because I was to appear before the Venkataswami Commission,” said Tejpal.

“For the last one and a half years we have been harassed by several government agencies just because we are Tehelka.com.”

Tejpal added that the government had targeted the news site’s promoters and was forcing them out of the media business.

“Our promoter was harassed by tax officials on the most flimsy pretext. Our funding has dried up and in the last four months we have had no money to pay salaries... Our office has shrunk.”

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes was forced to resign in March 2001 after Tehelka.com used secret video cameras to film politicians and army commanders taking bribes from journalists posing as arms dealers.

Fernandes was reinstated as defence minister in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu nationalist-led government seven months later.

The government probe which recently rejected arguments by Fernandes that the video tapes by the investigative website were doctored to implicate top officials.—AFP