Media News

Hypocrisy Much? TNM Which Raised ‘Undisclosed Sum’ From Money Laundering-Accused Raghav Bahl Gives Sermons On Electoral Bonds

March 16, 2024
The Commune

Ever since the details of Electoral Bonds have been made public, it appears that the detractors of the Bharatiya Janata Party are ensuring that the narrative of a “scam” is somehow set.

Fingers are being pointed out at the BJP alone while conveniently ignoring the fact that the party has the largest number of MPs in the country and is in power in 12 states, with 4 states as coalition partners. 

The Commune analyzed how regional parties had actually received more donations in comparison with the number of MPs they had. Union Minister Amit Shah speaking at the India Today Conclave 2024 refuted all the allegations made by these media houses as well as political parties. 

Despite all this, detractors such as political commentators and leftist-communist news portals are ensuring that the narrative of a “scam” goes mainstream. 

Political commentator Sumanth Raman is convinced (by what measure, it is not clear) that it is a scam.

Despite asking for evidence (and providing proof that it isn’t), such individuals are seemingly agreeing to the fact that donations and corporate donations to political parties are scams. 

Now, The News Minute itching to be a part of the narrative setting jumps into action. The portal has been publishing articles after articles on electoral bonds trying to implicate the BJP while looking the other way on donations received by Congress and other Opposition parties. 

Here’s a sample:

Responding to political observer BR Sreenivasan’s post which questioned how electoral bonds are being seen as a scam, Dhanya Rajendran, the Editor-in-chief wrote, “Simple. Party against corruption aka BJP comes to power. Makes changes in many laws, allows companies to donate as much as they want, removes caps, allows Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies to donate. Also increases action by ED, IT, etc. Who benefits the most? BJP.”

However, it is pertinent to mention that The News Minute received an ‘undisclosed’ amounts as funding from its investor Quintillion Media whose founders Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapoor have been accused of corruption and money laundering.

Yes, it is true that some start-ups do not disclose the amount raised as capital. However, since The News Minute portrays itself to be a transparency champion and claims itself to be doing journalism for public good asking readers to pay for ‘good journalism’, shouldn’t the ‘undisclosed amount’ of funding it received be disclosed, is a question to be asked. 

Who Is Raghav Bahl?

Raghav Bahl, an Indian businessman and serial entrepreneur, founded Network18 Group in 1993, which grew into a major media conglomerate. After financial challenges, Reliance Industries took over in 2014. Bahl then co-founded Quintillion Media Pvt Ltd and currently promotes Quint Digital Media Limited, controlling Thequint.com. He also collaborated with Bloomberg for BloombergQuint.

The Quint is part of “independent internet-based media platforms” which also includes the likes of The News Minute, Newslaundry, The Wire, Scroll.in, and ScoopWhoop. Wikipedia says that they are “challenging” traditional Indian news outlets. It is noteworthy that The Quint is “certified” by the Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network for its WebQoof division. It must be remembered here that in 2017, the Poynter Institute was granted $1.3 million by the Omidyar Network and the Open Society Foundation to “support new projects in three main areas: fact-checking technology, impact tracking, and financial awards through innovation grants and crowdfunding matches.”

In October 2018, the Income Tax Department of India raided The Quint’s offices and Raghav Bahl’s residence as part of an investigation into an alleged case of tax evasion. The raid was officially referred to as a survey by the Income Tax officers.

In 2019, media owner Raghav Bahl (founder of ‘The Quint’) faced money laundering accusations by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly understating a London property’s investment value by GBP 2.73 lakh (around ₹2.45 crore) and failing to explain the source of funds. Bahl’s properties were raided previously, prompting him to release details. His assets, including a London flat, were declared in income tax filings under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme.

In August 2023, the Delhi High Court temporarily lifted a lookout circular (LOC) against Raghav Bahl and his wife Ritu Kapur, allowing them to travel abroad for business meetings amidst the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money laundering probe. The High Court had earlier dismissed Bahl’s plea to quash the ED’s complaint, deeming it premature, and rejected his request to annul the LOC, granting only conditional travel permissions. Kapur’s plea against the ED probe is pending, asserting her non-involvement under the Black Money Act. The Income Tax Department initiated proceedings against Bahl under the Black Money Act, followed by the ED’s complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

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