Two journalists from the Hindi news outlet The Sootr were detained by the Rajasthan Police on Friday for publishing allegedly false and defamatory reports about Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, The Indian Express reported.

Anand Pandey, the editor-in-chief of The Sootr, and Harish Divekar, its managing editor, were picked up from Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, where the news outlet is based.

In a first information report filed at Jaipur’s Karni Vihar police station, the two journalists were accused of “blackmailing and extortion by publishing false and defamatory content”, the newspaper reported.

The complaint was filed by a person identified as Narendra Singh Rathore.

The journalists were booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to defamation, extortion and publication of false information, in addition to the provisions of the Information Technology Act.

Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph’s office issued a statement saying that after the complaint, “an investigation was conducted, statements of relevant witnesses were recorded and technical data was obtained”, The Indian Express reported.

The investigation found that the news published on the portal “was not based on facts”, the statement added.

“The investigation revealed that the accused had made an illegal demand of Rs 5 crore to remove false news from The Sootr channel and the web page and to prevent the broadcast of false news in the future,” the newspaper quoted the statement as saying.

The Sootr said that the arrests were “an attempt to intimidate and silence independent journalism”.

A spokesperson of the news outlet told The Indian Express that their reports on corruption allegations against Kumari were backed by “proper documentation and verifiable evidence”.

The spokesperson also claimed that the police refused to register their complaint about the “illegal detention”, describing it as a “clear misuse of state power aimed at suppressing critical reporting”, the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Arun Yadav criticised the detention, calling it an “attack on democracy”.

“When journalists who tell the truth are in jail while those who spread lies roam free, then understand that democracy is in danger,” Yadav said on social media.

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