Gujarat Police seize laptops, phones from journalist Ravi Nair’s Delhi home

The complainant in the case is Dushyant Vijaybhai Joshi, representing Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd (APSEZ). The HC held that the allegations in the FIR were materially different from an earlier private defamation complaint, and prima facie indicated cognizable offences that required investigation. The Gujarat Police team was accompanied by personnel from the Delhi Police during the search. Nair was not at home at the time.

A senior official of the Gujarat Police said that a unit of the force had seized the electronic devices from Nair’s Delhi residence as part of their investigation into the FIR following the HC’s order last week, based on a warrant issued by a Magistrate Court in Ahmedabad.

Nair’s colleague told The Indian Express that she was at Nair’s residence with his son when the police team arrived at 2.40 pm on Monday. “The officials showed us a search warrant and collected some gadgets. There were three laptops, two old phones that were kept in a cupboard, and one iPad. The laptops belonged to me and Ravi’s son, who works at a software company,” she said.

She said the search was recorded by a member of the police team. The officials also asked them to sign some documents before leaving around 6.40 pm. She said Nair had been cooperating with investigators. “However, neither his son nor I are accused in any case. I don’t know why they took away our devices”.

On August 11, Justice M R Mengdey of the HC rejected the journalist’s contention that the FIR amounted to an abuse of the legal process.

The FIR, lodged under Sections 318(4), 336(2), 336(4) and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS), relates to an article published in The Washington Post on October 24, 2025. These sections deal with cheating; altering or destroying a valuable security; forgery, which is intended, or known likely, to harm the reputation of a party; and fraudulently or dishonestly using a forged document or electronic record as genuine. The FIR said the article had alleged that the government and LIC had directed investments of large funds into Adani Group companies. Nair was also alleged to have claimed on X that Indian officials had decided to invest $3.9 billion in the Group.

The allegations in the report were based on documents purportedly issued by LIC or the Department of Financial Services under the Union Ministry of Finance. However, the assistant public prosecutor submitted that LIC denied issuing any such documents or receiving any government instructions to invest in any Adani entity.

In its eight-page oral order, the HC observed that the existence of the documents was “under the clouds”, and prima facie appeared to be forged. The court said it would be for the “investigating agency to find out the truth as regards those documents”.