New Delhi: The Delhi police have sought a three-month extension before a court here to complete its investigation in the NewsClick case, ThePrint has learnt.
According to a police source, an application has been filed before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur seeking the extension.
Meanwhile, a team of the Delhi Police will be questioning activist and Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha in connection with the NewsClick case Wednesday, it is learnt. “We have sought an extension of three months. The team will reach his Navi Mumbai residence where he is placed under house arrest,” said the source.
The source added, “Navlakha is a shareholder of PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd. He will be questioned in connection with ‘illegal funds’.”
On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Navlakha, while staying the operation of the order for three weeks at the request of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the Bhima Koregaon case.
The Delhi Police Special Cell had in October booked NewsClick founder-editor Prabir Purkayastha, HR head Amit Chakravarty, Navlakha and others under Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), along with sections 13,16, 17, 18 and 22C of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The probe is being led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Lalit Mohan Negi.
While Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested, more than 50 journalists including freelancers and NewsClick staffers, both former and present, were questioned and their electronic devices seized by the Delhi Police Special Cell.
The Delhi Police has alleged that NewsClick received “illegal funds” from US-based millionaire Neville Roy Singham, who according to a report by The New York Times in August, was “at the centre” of a “global web of Chinese propaganda”.
Police sources allege that NewsClick on the directions of Singham, who they claim is a “close confidante and friend” of Purkayastha, worked to “promote anti-India narrative”.
ThePrint had reported earlier how investigators are claiming that NewsClick used funds ‘illegally received from China’ to “set through its coverage a narrative about protests and violence across the country like the farmers’ agitation, the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, and the Bhima Koregaon violence” and that these funds were used to “discredit” the government’s “handling of the Covid crisis”.
While the Delhi Police is probing the alleged “proceeds” of the crime, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing allegations of ‘money laundering’ against NewsClick.
NewsClick in a statement on 4 October, said that it “does not publish any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity or authority, directly or indirectly; it does not take directions from Neville Roy Singham regarding the content published on its website; all funding received by NewsClick has been through the appropriate banking channels and have been reported to the relevant authorities as required by law.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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