CPM state secretary M V Govindan has criticised the police raid at the Reporter Broadcasting Company office, saying that allegations against the media organisation’s owner could not justify police action inside the newsroom.

Speaking to the media, Govindan said even if the owner of a media organisation was involved in a criminal case, it did not give the police the right to raid the news desk or interfere with the functioning of a newsroom.

He also criticised the response of other media organisations to the incident. According to Govindan, when the rights of one media organisation were breached, it was natural for other media houses to react. However, he said such a response was not seen in Kerala and alleged that mainstream media organisations had not taken the issue seriously.

The remarks come days after the Special Investigation Team conducted searches at the Kalamassery office of Reporter Broadcasting Company and the residences of its owners in connection with the investigation into alleged financial irregularities surrounding the proposed visit of Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team to Kerala.

The raid had triggered a political controversy, with Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan alleging that police entered the newsroom, seized journalists' phones and created an atmosphere of fear. Chief Minister V D Satheesan, however, defended the search, saying it was a legal action carried out as part of the SIT investigation and denied that the news broadcast had been disrupted.

Govindan also spoke at length about the ongoing Enforcement Directorate investigation into the CMRL-Exalogic case. He accused the central agency of using investigative agencies to politically target the CPM and its senior leaders.

He alleged that the ED was deliberately attempting to implicate Vijayan in the Exalogic case and described the investigation as an attempt to weaken the CPM in Kerala.

Govindan also questioned the agency's latest allegations concerning hawala transactions. He said that the investigation initially focused on transactions between companies but had now shifted towards an alleged hawala connection. He claimed that when Veena Vijayan was initially questioned, she was not asked about hawala transactions and alleged that the agency had subsequently introduced the issue into the investigation.

Govindan's press interaction was his first media briefing after the CPM's extended state committee meeting, during which the party discussed both the investigation against its leaders and the broader political challenges facing the organisation.