During the India-Pakistan tensions recently, Gujarat Samachar’s social media handle on X was withheld on government orders without an explanation. Days later, Income Tax department and ED raided multiple locations, including the daily’s offices and residences of the owners.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Bahubali Shah, the managing director and owner of Gujarat Samachar – one of Gujarat’s most-read newspapers – over financial irregularities. While he has been granted bail as of Friday (May 16) afternoon, the arrest of the 73-year-old prompted widespread allegations that it was a politically motivated move.
Shah, who has survived a brain stroke, is also a heart patient and was admitted to a hospital in Ahmedabad after his vital parameters fell soon after his arrest. While the ED is yet to issue an official statement about his arrest, days after he was taken into custody in a money laundering case, sources told this reporter that a case from 2006 has been reopened.
Founded in 1932, Gujarat Samachar is one of the largest circulated vernacular dailies in Gujarat. It is headquartered in Ahmedabad. It has a significant presence across the state and in cities like Mumbai and New York. The newspaper is jointly managed by Bahubali Shah and his brother, Shreyansh, who is the editor-in-chief. The company also has a 24-hour news television channel, GSTV.
In addition to his role at Gujarat Samachar, Bahubali Shah also holds directorships in several companies, including Gujarat Samachar Ltd., Parijat Infrastructure Ltd., and Ajab Gajab Investment Pvt. Ltd. At Lok Prakashan Ltd., the publishing company behind Gujarat Samachar, he has a direct shareholding of 22.79%. Combined with his brother’s holdings, the Shah family has a majority stake in the company.

X account withheld, then raids
During the India-Pakistan tensions recently, Gujarat Samachar was the first newspaper in the state to have its X handle blocked on social media – on May 9 – without any explanation. It had been demanding answers from the Modi government on what actually transpired between India and Pakistan.
On May 14, the Income Tax department conducted raids at multiple locations linked to the paper including its headquarters. The residences of Bahubali and Shreyans, as well as the GSTV news channel office were also raided.
The ED also conducted raids at 24 locations, including the residences of Shreyans’s sons, Nirman and Amam, and the newspaper’s online department’s office. Premises linked to the Shah family’s real estate ventures were also raided.
The raids on Gujarat Samachar by the central agencies lasted over 36 hours. The Shah family had lost its matriarch Smritiben about three weeks ago.
The arrest was made at around 10 pm on Thursday (May 15) night. The next day, Bahubali was granted bail on Friday by a Gujarat court on health grounds.
According to sources, the daily had chosen not to report about the arrest in the day’s newspapers or on their TV channel as they were in a mood to fight out the “anti-media government of Modi” but had decided to do so “patiently and strategically”.

‘Political vendetta’
Editor-in-chief and managing director of Gujarat Samachar, Shreyans, has called his younger brother’s arrest “political vendetta”.
He said that Bahubali had been unwell after suffering a severe heart attack. He was being treated at the hospital. Yet, he said, the authorities pressured him to confess to “certain things”.
Regarding ED’s allegations about an old case, Shreyans said that the raids pertained to some transactions 20 years ago. “Yes, the information is correct. Bahubali bhai has been arrested in an old case. We don’t have much details as yet about the charges…we are being targeted.”
He added, “All these transactions were done through the bank. This is a civil matter, and we are ready to fight it in the courts. We do not have any criminal background. Why is my brother being treated like this?”

‘Punishment for standing up for the truth’
The opposition Congress linked the arrest to Gujarat Samachar’s bold anti-establishment stance.
Gujarat Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil was the first to post on X against the move. He wrote that Gujarat Samachar was being punished for doing its job and indulging in journalism that was true.
“Punishment for standing up for the truth has been the motto of the BJP government. Leading Gujarati newspaper Gujarat Samachar has always stood up against power, whosoever it be. However, showing a mirror to BJP government and PM Modi in the recent India-Pakistan fallout has ensured that Modi let out his favourite tool kit, his hounds. Income Tax (IT) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) has pounced upon Gujarat Samachar and its television channel GSTV, besides other business entities,” he wrote on X.
Gohil categorically said that the daily had refused to become a “Godi media” and that its reporting on the India-Pakistan tensions ruffled the Modi government.
It must also be noted that the prime minister regularly reads the Gujarat Samachar, several images are available in the public domain to show as much.
Adversaries of Gujarat Samachar have claimed that Shah’s arrest had nothing to do with journalism but was because of money laundering reportedly conducted under the name of the private firm Ajab Gajab Investments Private Limited. House promoters Green House, they allege, then routed the money to buy stakes in group projects. This is below-market lending, potentially designed to move money off the books or mask internal funding, they claim. The company was a front to do illegal activities, the allegation says.
Meanwhile, political leaders including Aam Aadmi Party’s Gujarat president Isudan Gadhvi, Congress Secretary K.C. Venugopal, party spokesperson Pawan Khera and others also criticised the ED and IT action, calling it a direct muzzling of the press and a threat to journalism.
“Late last [Thursday] night, the ED arrested Bahubali Bhai Shah of Gujarat Samachar. The 93-year-old newspaper has been a bold anti-establishment voice. This is the fate of those who have the guts to openly say that the emperor is naked,” wrote Congress leader Pawan Khera in a post on X.
K.C. Venugopal and the official handle of Congress also condemned the arrest. He wrote on X, “The Gujarat Samachar is fearless in its critique of the Modi-led BJP regime. The ED arrest of owner Bahubali Shah is the BJP’s way of making independent media bend and toe the regime’s line”.
AAP’s Gadhvi called it an attempt to intimidate the newspaper.

Courtesy: The Wire