The Kerala Police on Sunday conducted a search at the office of news channel Asianet in connection with allegations of telecasting fake news about a sexual assault case, The New Indian Express reported.

The police filed a case against Asianet based on a complaint by Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA PV Anvar. The MLA claimed that the channel made false allegations about the sexual assault of ten school girls based on the statement of a minor. The report was part of a programme on drug abuse in Kerala.

Asianet denied the allegations made by Anvar.

The searches took place two days after a group of activists from the Students’ Federation of India allegedly barged into Asianet’s office in Kozhikode and gave threats to staff members in connection with the report.

The channel filed a police complaint, based on which a case was registered against about 30 SFI activists, NDTV reported.

Commenting on the matter, Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar alleged that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was attempting to distract people’s attention from corruption charges against his government by intimidating the media.

The Asianet News Network is a subsidiary of Jupiter Capital Private Limited, in which Chandrasekhar is a majority stakeholder, according to The Indian Express.

Congress MLA Ramesh Chennithala also said that he strongly condemns the police action. “Independent press freedom is under threat in Kerala under CPM and Pinarayi Vijayan rule,” he said on Twitter. “Media is harassed and threatened if news against CM or Government is telecast. This is murder of democracy.”

On Saturday, the Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists and Kerala Union of Working Journalists issued a joint statement on the alleged attack by SFI activists. They said that the attack was “yet another example of the growing attacks against media organisations and journalists in the country”.

The organisations urged the Kerala government to take strict action against the alleged attackers.