Police seize devices of journalist Ravi Nair over Washington Post Adani story

Gujarat Police seized electronic devices belonging to journalist Ravi Nair, his son and a colleague during simultaneous searches in Kerala and Delhi on Monday, according to reports quoting person familiar with the matter.

The searches relate to social media posts Nair published in October concerning an article he wrote for The Washington Post about investments by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the Adani Group, said Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who has co-authored books and articles with Nair.

An employee of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd filed a first information report alleging that Nair “wrote and posted false and fabricated information” that “attempted to tarnish the image and reputation of the Adani Group of Companies”.

An Ahmedabad court earlier on Monday authorised police to search Nair’s Delhi residence for “incriminating evidence, essential documents and electronic devices”.

Nair was in Kerala and was not present at his Delhi home when the search was conducted, Guha Thakurta said. Police seized two of Nair’s phones in Kerala, while his son’s laptop and an iPad belonging to a colleague who was at the Delhi residence were also taken, he said. Guha Thakurta said the colleague’s device had no connection to the case.

The FIR invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita concerning cheating and dishonesty, forgery intended to harm a person’s reputation, and the use of forged or fake paper or digital records as genuine.

The seizures came six days after the Gujarat High Court on Aug. 11 declined to quash the FIR against Nair.

The Washington Post article alleged that LIC, a state-owned insurer, had invested $3.9 billion in Gautam Adani’s business group following directions from the central government while the conglomerate was facing financial and legal difficulties.

LIC rejected the report, saying allegations “that the investment decisions of LIC are influenced by external factors are false, baseless and far from truth”.

The Adani Group also denied any involvement in “any alleged government plans” to direct LIC funds towards the group, according to the newspaper.

The FIR concerns Nair’s social media posts about the article rather than the article itself.

According to the complainant, LIC issued another clarification on Oct. 28 saying it had “neither received any such document nor issued any such document”.

The company also “clarified that it had not received any information or instructions from the government regarding making investments in companies of the Adani Group”, the complainant said.

The complainant argued that the clarifications showed the article, “the statements made therein, and the documents and information relied upon in support of those statements were false and fabricated from the very beginning”.

The posts caused “substantial financial losses” to the Adani Group and its investors in India and abroad, the complainant alleged, and sought an investigation.

Nair challenged the FIR before the Gujarat High Court.

His lawyer argued that an LIC denial did not, by itself, establish that the documents underlying the article were forged.

“…and also mere denial of the facts narrated in the article by the LIC, would not make the documents, based upon which, the article was published by the petitioner in The Washington Post, forged, and therefore, the petitioner herein cannot be prosecuted for the offence in question,” the counsel said.

Guha Thakurta said the FIR was “not just to harass Ravi Nair but to find out the source of the information that he has used in an article in The Washington Post”.