Phone in MDMA Case Remains Unexamined While Journalists’ Phones Were Seized: P. Jayarajan

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) state secretariat member P Jayarajan has criticised the Kerala Police for seizing journalists' phones during the search at the Reporter TV office, alleging that the phone of Chief Minister V D Satheesan's social media coordinator, who is an accused in an MDMA case, has still not been examined.

Jayarajan said Satheesan was following the path of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He made the remarks in a Facebook post criticising the police action at the news channel's headquarters.

Jayarajan described the Kerala Police's action at the Reporter TV headquarters as highly condemnable. He said it was unprecedented for the police to intervene in a manner that disrupted the functioning of a television channel.

He alleged that the police acted without considering the importance that a media organisation should be accorded in a democratic system.

"It is certain that the police would not have carried out such an intervention without the knowledge of V D Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala," Jayarajan said.

He alleged that people had begun to realise that this was not a journey towards a new Keralam but towards a dark era.

Jayarajan also questioned why the police had seized journalists' phones when the phone of Satheesan's social media coordinator, an accused in the MDMA case, had not been examined so far.

"V D is following the same path as Modi," he said, while calling for strong protests against the government's actions against media freedom.

He also said society should seriously examine how other television channels had responded to the police action at Reporter TV.