<p class="title rtejustify">The Income Tax Department Thursday searched the premises of media baron Raghav Bahl in connection with a case of alleged tax evasion, officials said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">They said a team of sleuths raided the residence of Bahl in neighbouring Noida early morning and are looking for documents and other evidence related to the case under probe.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">It is understood that the searches are being conducted at the premises of a few other people as part of the ITD action to probe tax evasion by a set of business professionals.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Bahl is the founder of the Quint news portal and the Network18 group and is a known media entrepreneur.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Bahl later sent out a note to the Editor's Guild on Twitter: "I have a matter of great concern to share with the Guild. While I was in Mumbai this morning, dozens of IT officials descended on my residence and The Quint’s office for a 'survey'. We are a fully tax compliant entity and will provide all access to all appropriate financial documents. However, I have just spoken to the officer on my premises, one Mr Yadav, and requested him, strongly, to not try and pick up or see any other mail/document which is likely to contain very serious/sensitive journalistic material. If they do that, then we shall seek extremely strong recourse. I do hope the EG will back us on this, and thereby set a precedent for any such exercise that may happen on any other journalistic entity in the future. They should also not misuse their smartphones to take unauthorised copies of this material." </p>
<p class="title rtejustify">The Income Tax Department Thursday searched the premises of media baron Raghav Bahl in connection with a case of alleged tax evasion, officials said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">They said a team of sleuths raided the residence of Bahl in neighbouring Noida early morning and are looking for documents and other evidence related to the case under probe.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">It is understood that the searches are being conducted at the premises of a few other people as part of the ITD action to probe tax evasion by a set of business professionals.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Bahl is the founder of the Quint news portal and the Network18 group and is a known media entrepreneur.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Bahl later sent out a note to the Editor's Guild on Twitter: "I have a matter of great concern to share with the Guild. While I was in Mumbai this morning, dozens of IT officials descended on my residence and The Quint’s office for a 'survey'. We are a fully tax compliant entity and will provide all access to all appropriate financial documents. However, I have just spoken to the officer on my premises, one Mr Yadav, and requested him, strongly, to not try and pick up or see any other mail/document which is likely to contain very serious/sensitive journalistic material. If they do that, then we shall seek extremely strong recourse. I do hope the EG will back us on this, and thereby set a precedent for any such exercise that may happen on any other journalistic entity in the future. They should also not misuse their smartphones to take unauthorised copies of this material." </p>