World Notes INDIA

India's press is among the freest in the world, but it did not seem that way last week. In the New Delhi editorial office of the Indian Express, the country's largest English-language daily, tax agents backed by police burst in and seized documents. The purported aim of their search: evidence of customs- duties violations.

Editor Arun Shourie asserted that the real goal was to make an example of the paper in order to "silence the rest of the press." Recent Express editorials have battered Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and the paper's reports on corruption have forced the resignation of a close Gandhi associate in Parliament. The government said the raid found that the Express had evaded $257,000 in customs duties. The paper called the charges "lies" and said it would fight in court.