Action against NDTV taken as per due process of law: CBI

New Delhi, Jun 6: The CBI today sought to clarify its decision on carrying out raids against NDTV bosses saying the agency respects freedom of press and the action was taken as per the due process of law.

The statement comes in the wake of various media organisations, including the much-powerful Editors Guild of India, expressing deep concern over the raids conducted by the CBI on the offices of NDTV and its promoters.

"Entry of police and other agencies into the media offices is a serious matter," the Editors Guild statement had said after the raids yesterday.

In an unusually lengthy statement, the agency said it has not conducted any search on the registered office of NDTV, media studio, news room or premises connected with media operations.

"CBI fully respects the freedom of press and is committed to the free functioning of news operations," it said and clarified that the allegations under investigation are not regarding the default in loan repayment.

The allegations "relate to the wrongful gain of Rs 48 crore to the promoters--Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy, RRPR Holdings Pvt Ltd and a corresponding wrongful loss to the ICICI bank arising from their collusion and criminal conspiracy," the CBI said.

NDTV in its statement yesterday had termed the action of the CBI to register FIR and carry out searches at Roys as an attempt to muzzle the media.

The ruling party politicians could not "stomach" the "independence and fearlessness" of NDTVs team and the CBI raid is merely another attempt at silencing the media," it had said.

The CBI, while advising restraint, said denigrating the allegations at this stage of probe and wrongly accusing the agency of acting under pressure is uncalled for and an attempt to malign the image of the agency.

"The investigation is being conducted as per the due process of law and under the jurisdiction of the court of law. The result of investigation will be filed before the competent court of law based on the evidence adduced during investigation," it said.

The agency said it has registered the case based on the complaint of a share holder of ICICI bank and NDTV after carrying out due diligence.

Referring to the statement of NDTV about never having defaulted on any loan, the CBI alleged that the probe would revolve around why ICICI bank took the entire shareholding of the promoters in NDTV (nearly 61 per cent) as collateral and reduced the interest rates from 19 per cent to 9.5 per cent.

Contesting NDTVs questions raised over the jurisdiction of the CBI when ICICI was a private bank, the CBI referred to an order of the Supreme Court in the case of Ramesh Gelli versus CBI of 2016 where the apex court has held that the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 are applicable to the officials of private banks.

"Therefore, CBI has jurisdiction to take up investigation of the cases of private banks," it said and assured the agency was committed to carry out the investigation expeditiously and in accordance with the due process of law.

In the meantime, a statement of Editors Guild said NDTV, in various statements, has denied any wrong doing and termed the raids as "stepping up the concerted harassment" of the news channel and an attempt to "undermine democracy and free speech" and "silence the media."

"While the Editors Guild maintains that no individuals or institution is above the law, the Guild condemns any attempt to muzzle the media and calls upon the CBI to follow the due process of law and ensure there is no interference in the free functioning of news operations," the statement said.

Press Club of India and All India Newspaper Editors Conference also condemned the CBI raids on the NDTV.

A group of intellectuals under the banner of SAHMAT have condemned as "totally unwarranted" the CBI raid calling it "an intimidatory tactic".

The group maintained that all due procedures should be followed in cases of private complaints. It said it is of opinion that searches even without a preliminary enquiry, as stated by NDTV, is nothing but an intimidatory tactic.

"By attacking the media, the present government is undermining freedom of the press, so essential for a democratic polity," it said.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

Comments