Delhi police visits the Wire’s office, DCP says routine checking

Ground Report | New Delhi: Delhi police visits the Wire’s; Delhi Police reached the office of 'The Wire', the website that published the Pegasus report. Siddharth Varadarajan, the editor of news website 'The Wire', has tweeted on Friday afternoon that a Delhi Police team has reached his office after the publication of 'Pegasus Report'.

'The Wire' is publishing the Pegasus report, about which the central government is on the target of opposition both inside and outside the Parliament.

The Wire is one of 16 media organizations around the world partnering with French non-profit Forbidden Stories and human rights group Amnesty International in a global investigative project that focuses on a database of numbers targeted with spyware.

It has been claimed in this report that the Indian government, with the help of an Israeli spyware Pegasus, spied on hacking the phones of certain people like journalists, politicians and officials. The government has vehemently denied these allegations.

Not just another day at the office for @thewire_in after #PegasusProject

Policeman arrived today with inane inquiries. 'Who's Vinod Dua?' 'Who's Swara Bhaskar?' 'Can I see your rent agreement?' 'Can I speak to Arfa?'

Asked why he'd come: "Routine check for Aug 15"

Strange. pic.twitter.com/jk0a2dDIuS

— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) July 23, 2021

Delhi police visits the Wire's

Siddharth Varadarajan wrote in his tweet, "This is not a normal day for The Wire's office after the Pegasus report was published. Policemen came today with nonsensical questions... 'Who is Vinod Dua?' 'Who is Swara Bhaskar?' 'Can we see your rent agreement?' 'Can I talk to Arfa?' When asked why you have come here, the answer was - "General inspection keeping in mind 15th August" is strange.

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Responding to Varadarajan’s tweet, the deputy commissioner of police, New Delhi, claimed the policeman had gone to verify an office that didn’t bear any signboard. He said that security and anti-terrorism measures such as tenant verification, checking of guest houses was being done throughout Delhi in the run-up to the Independence Day.

In the run up to Independence Day,security and anti-terrorist measures such as tenant verification,checking of guest houses etc are being taken throughout Delhi.Local beat officer had gone to verify an office which didn't bear any signboard at the entrance. Please see the photo. pic.twitter.com/tmQObWIXmq

— DCP New Delhi (@DCPNewDelhi) July 23, 2021

On Thursday morning, the Income Tax Department raided Dainik Bhaskar, a Hindi daily, which was critically and widely reported on the mishandling of the second Covid wave. The IT department also raided the offices of Bharat Samachar, a TV news channel based in Lucknow.

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