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Outlook disputes official claim

Outlook Editor-in-Chief Vinod Mehta on Thursday disputed the official claim that Income Tax officials did not enter its offices during a raid on the Raheja group of companies which own it, and Rs 5.1 million of unaccounted cash was seized from the group during the raid on May 29.

In a statement in New Delhi, Mehta said that the seizure panchnama signed by M Z Shirke, Deputy Commissioner of I-T, showed that officials had taken away backups of all the computers on its premises on a CD. This included all editorial computers.

Its correspondent Manu Joseph's bag was searched, his phone book scrutinised and he was interrogated on how he went about reporting and writing his story, Mehta said and asked: "Is this an income tax raid?"

About the seizure of cash, he said only Rs 50,000 kept for emergency medical expenses was seized from the residence of an ailing relative of the group promoter Rajan Raheja.

Mehta reiterated that his magazine had received warnings, both "veiled and clear from the highest powers in the Vajpayee-led NDA government" over the past three months.

The government officials were now compounding their "folly by lying through their teeth".

He also said 10 IT officials and two policemen who raided the Outlook office spent 22 hours studying its subscription management system, bank deposit slips, petty cash vouchers and scrutinised old, rejected scribble pads used by employees.

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