New Delhi: NewsClick editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and human resources head Amit Chakravarty were arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the fresh case lodged Tuesday under stringent sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the news portal.
Apart from Sections 13 (unlawful activities), 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for terrorist acts), 18 (conspiracy) and 22 (C) (offences by companies) of the UAPA, the FIR has IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) for allegedly receiving funding from China.
Sources in the Delhi Police told ThePrint that this new case is to investigate the “proceeds of crime”.
“While ED probed laundering of money, we are investigating how the foreign funds, brought in illegally from China were being used. The agenda is to probe the end use of that money. We suspect that they (funds) were used for anti-national activities and a conspiracy was hatched for the same,” a source said.
Meanwhile, the NewsClick office in Delhi was sealed after raids.
On Tuesday, the Delhi Police raided over 30 locations, including the house of social activist Teesta Setalvad and the office of Sabrang India, with 100 personnel on ground in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai in connection with the case.
“A total of 37 male suspects have been questioned at premises, 9 female suspects have been questioned at their respective places of stay and digital devices, documents etc. have been seized/collected for examination,” the Delhi Police said in a statement.
“The proceedings are still ongoing; so far, two accused, Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty have been arrested. Further investigation is in progress,” the statement added.
A source in the Delhi Police said the detained were asked about their ties with NewsClick and if they knew about the foreign funding. “Journalists were asked about their salaries, how it was transferred and what sort of discussions took place in the news portal,” the source said. “Journalists were asked if they covered the farmers protest, the Northeast Delhi riots etc.”
The raids started early Tuesday morning with the police confiscating electronic devices such as phones, laptops and hard disks. Devices of several journalists were seized by the police. Among those questioned include journalists Aunindyo Chakraborty, Abhisar Sharma, Urmilesh, and comedian and satirist Sanjay Rajoura.
“No FIR has been given, nor seizure memo. They have seized mobile, laptop and DVDs of old videos,” Rajoura’s lawyer Ilin Saraswat told ThePrint. “He has been summoned on 6 October, but no summon copy was given despite several requests for it.”
NewsClick was already under the scanner of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly receiving Chinese funds routed through the US. The news portal had also faced an income tax raid in 2021.
According to the ED, which is investigating a money laundering case, the news portal allegedly received Chinese funds amounting to Rs 76.84 crore.
Investigators have claimed that the news portal’s “China link” was established by its association with Shanghai-based US businessman Neville Roy Singham, who the ED documents mentions as a “close confidant” of Prabir Purkayastha and a contact person of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
ED investigators also claimed to have found that Singham exchanged “incriminating emails” about China with Purkayastha and other journalists, activists, and several leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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