On Saturday (23rd March), the CEO of Newslaundry Abhinandan Sekhri informed that the Income Tax (IT) Department sent five new notices to the leftist propaganda outlet a week ago.
He claimed that the total count of all IT Department notices has reached 55. Sekhri made the revelations during his unhinged rant on Newslaundry’s YouTube channel on Saturday.
At about 2:48 minutes into the programme, he said, “…A full one week before, News Laundry got the journalism ka asli award, which is five income tax notices. Five brand new notices, that’s right. Thus, taking a total income tax notice count to 55, or more or less, give or take, two, or three.
“These include show cause notices, other notices which are accusing us of basically everything. Income gadbad hai, expense gadbad hai, valuation gadbad hai, mujh par criminal action karna chahata hai, matlab traffic light violation and over speeding bhi dal dete hai. I have done everything,” he brazened out.
Later in the video, Abhinandan Sekhri alleged that the IT Department sends notices to Newslaundry like sweets distributed on the occasion of Holi (Holi ki mithai).
“Actually, now that I think about it, maybe Income Tax notices were a signal ki bhai, electoral bonds khareed lo (buy electoral bonds). See, Modi ji, this scheme is too subtle for us,” the CEO of the propaganda outlet claimed.
At the end of his 24-minute-long rant, he said, “Because while there is enough to be miserable about, there is always something to look forward to, even if it’s income tax notices. Have a fantastic weekend.”
In September 2021, the Income Tax Department raided the office of Newslaundry. One Newslaundry employee had told then, “So far the raid is only at one office of Newslaundry.” The employee also said that the media outlet’s “financial records are being checked”.