Report on Adani: Gujarat Police Raid Homes of Journalist Ravi Nair

New Delhi: Gujarat Police have conducted raids at the homes of Malayali journalist Ravi Nair, who has reported critically on Gautam Adani, a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The searches were carried out at his residences in Delhi and Keralam. Reports indicate that a laptop and an iPad were seized during the raids.

The raids were conducted in connection with a police case filed against him for one of his posts on X about the story he reported for The Washington Post. On April 22, an employee of the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) in Ahmedabad filed a defamation complaint against Ravi Nair's post. The Gujarat Police filed an FIR based on a subsequent complaint from the Adani Group employee, invoking charges of cheating and forgery, invoking sections related to cheating and forgery of documents. 

The Gujarat Police's actions follow a Gujarat High Court directive ordering an inquiry into whether the documents cited in The Washington Post report are authentic

The news piece by Ravi Nair had reported that Indian officials had directed the diversion of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) investments worth approximately $3.9 billion into Adani Group entities — a report that apparently angered Adani.

Ravi Nair has long been a thorn in the side of the BJP, having published several investigative pieces on Rafale, Pawan Hans, the CAG and electoral bonds. In 2017, senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta had similarly faced a defamation case from Adani after writing a piece exposing what he described as a Rs 500 crore favour extended to the Adani Group by the Modi government — though that case ultimately failed.