New Delhi: Cases under relevant sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct have been registered by the the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) co-founders Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy. The matter pertains to allegedly causing losses to ICICI Bank for over Rs 48 crore. Agency officials carried out raids at the residence of Roys in Delhi and Dehradun.The official premises of the channel in Greater Kailash area of New Delhi was not among those raided.

ICICI Bank has also been named in the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the CBI for “allegedly conniving, committing fraud and entering into a conspiracy with promoters of NDTV in facilitating transfer of ownership of a news broadcasting company to a shell company.”

The prominent media house however in a statement refuted the charges on Monday evening saying,“the CBI has been compelled to file an FIR based on a shoddy complaint by a disgruntled former consultant at NDTV called Sanjay Dutt, who has been making false allegations and filing cases in courts of law with these false allegations. So far, he has not obtained a single order from any of these courts.”

The agency is not acting on a complaint of the CBI but looking at the bank as "a conduit for a benaami person in laundering funds to the tune of Rs 403.85 crore in collusion with Prannoy and Radhika Roy through a labyrinth of shell companies.”

“All these acts are committed in violation of Banking Regulation Act, Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Act, MIB (ministry of information and broadcasting) Regulations and MHA (ministry of home affairs) security norms for media companies. ICICI Bank was an active participant in the violations,” the CBI said.

Reacting to the raids, NDTV said in a statement, “It is shocking that the CBI conducted searches on the NDTV offices and residence of the promoters without even conducting a preliminary enquiry. This is a blatant political attack on the freedom of the press.” The CBI on the other hand released a compendium of documents pertaining to the allegations against the Roys.

NDTV also claimed that “the allegation appears to be for a loan which has been repaid by Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy more than seven years ago.” The company attached documents proving the same. CBI’s complaint refers to the 
fact that the bank didn’t insist on recovering the entire loan. ICICI Bank was still to issue a statement in the matter.

In November 2015, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had served a showcause notice to NDTV for allegedly breaching foreign exchange regulations in availing of overseas and foreign direct investment facilities to the tune of Rs 2,030 crore. The news of raids has led to a fall in the value of NDTV shares.