DNA has learned that President of the Club received an email before the event.
On the day that NDTV had organised a press conference at the Press Club in Delhi, the President of the Club, Gautam Lahiri received an email from the CBI to ensure that ‘their point of view’ is also put into perspective. Lahiri confirmed the news to DNA, and when asked if the email constituted violation of press freedom he said: “It doesn’t.”
DNA has learned that the email was received before the conference started and Lahiri said he didn’t respond to the official mail. He added: “I said this during the press conference we would present the both sides of the fact.”
Earlier, the CBI has responded strongly to a New York Times editorial on the NDTV raids, calling it "one-sided" and asserting India does not require "any lesson" on freedom of the press from the US daily.
In response to the June 7 editorial 'India's Battered Press', the CBI s press information officer and spokesman R K Gaur said the editorial "gives the impression" that action is not being taken against other big loan defaulters and that the raids on NDTV's founders were a part of a "vendetta" against the broadcaster.
"The editorial is one-sided and doesn't consider the investigation history of the case" against RRPR Holdings, NDTV s holding company, by different tax and law enforcement agencies in India since 2011, he said.
Gaur said in the entire case against the NDTV "due process of law" is being followed.
"India has a robust and independent judiciary that strongly protects democratic freedom and that an aggrieved person can always approach. India does not require any lesson on freedom of the press from The Times," he said in his letter to the Editor, adding "our institutions and traditions are nurtured by our rich and diverse cultural heritage and democratic ethos."
At the gathering Prannoy Roy had said, "I commit here today that we will answer all the charges openly and transparently. What all I ask is to please make it a time-bound process." Roy, who spoke at the end of the protest meet, countered the charges, as a "concocted set of facts", saying, "Radhika and I, NDTV have never touched one rupee of black money, never bribed a person".
The NDTV founder, also said, their fight was not against the CBI or the ED, but against politicians, who, he alleged, want to "eviscerate these institutions".
"Please don't believe there cannot be smoke without fire. Politicians can make smoke without fire," he said. Members of the Press Club of India, the Federation of Press Clubs of India, Delhi Union of Journalists, the Press Association, the Foreign Correspondents Club, the Indian Women's Press Corps and the Editors Guild of India were also present.
The NDTV had described the actions as a "witch-hunt" based on "same old" false accusations.
With inputs from agencies
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