Centre freezes Jaihind TV bank accounts, claiming tax filing mismatch

Thiruvananthapuram: The Income Tax Department on Saturday froze the bank accounts of Jaihind TV, the Malayalam mouthpiece of the Congress party in Kerala. The move, alleged to be part of political vendetta, claimed a mismatch in filing outstanding tax demands, The News Minute reported.

The Managing Director of the TV channel BS Shiju told TNM that the freezing was because of an investment made by Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. He alleged that the move was vindictive.

Shiju told TNM that the move was related to a seven-year-old case regarding service tax arrears, which is being adjudicated by the High Court. HDFC Bank froze the channel’s account first, and ICICI Bank followed, he said. He added that this has led to the failure of critical payments, and the channel has sought the banks for clarification.

To the requests, the banks retorted that the freezing was carried out on orders from Union government authorities. When the channel wrote a letter demanding the action, HDFC Bank replied with a copy of a letter from the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) department, while ICICI Bank replied that they were instructed not to share a copy of the instruction from the Centre.

Shiju said that the abrupt action by the two banks has landed the channel into a crisis.

He told TNM that the potential motive for the freezing could be the investment made by DK Shivakumar. He cited a notice the channel received on 22nd December 2023, which sought details of the investment. He said that the channel cooperated with agencies in their investigation, but it was served more notices from various government departments and agencies.

Citing this, the Director of the channel said that it is a clear case of vendetta against the Congress party and Sivakumar. He added that Jaihind TV is the only channel that aired details of the Bharat Nyay Yatra, and the freezing move could hinder the campaign.