NDTV founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy were on August 9 stopped at the Mumbai airport and prevented from travelling abroad. In a statement, the Roys said that this amounted to denial of their basic rights.

“They have been stopped on the basis of a fake and wholly unsubstantiated corruption case filed by the CBI about an ICICI loan that was taken by their company RRPR which was fully repaid with interest ahead of schedule,” NDTV said in a statement.

The media house claimed that both of them have been cooperating with the case and have travelled abroad as and when required. The Roys were to return on August 15. “The authorities did not inform the court, where the matter is sub judice, or the Roys, about today’s action,” NDTV said.

In view of similar past foreign travels by the Roys, the action was “ludicrous”, said the TV channel. It equalled the action against the Roys as a warning to the media from the authorities “to fall in line”.

The Central Bureau of Information confirmed that the Roys were detained on the basis of a look-out circular issued by the agency against them. The agency alleged ₹48 crore loss to the ICICI Bank due to the slashing of annual interest rate from 19% to 9.5% on a ₹375 crore loan given to RRPR Holding Private Limited.