China Funding Row: NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, HR head Amit Chakravarty sent to 7-day police remand

NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and its Human Resources (HR) head Amit Chakravarty have been arrested by the Delhi Police and sent to 7 days of police remand.

Raids were carried out since Tuesday morning at the homes and offices of journalists, authors, academics, contributors and a satirist associated with the news portal NewsClick.

Police said it was conducting its probe into a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA, alleging that the portal was receiving money to fuel pro-China propaganda in India.

A total of 46 “suspects”, including nine women, were asked questions about the Delhi communal riots and the CAA agitation of 2019-20, the farmers’ protest of 2020-21 and whether they used encrypted messaging applications such as Signal on their phones.

Before quizzing them, their phones, laptops, and electronic devices were seized for further examination, Deputy Commissioner of Police (PRO) Suman Nalwa said.

The Delhi Police Special Cell conducted raids on Tuesday on the basis of inputs provided by the central agency. Police are said to have recovered the dumped data from laptops and mobile phones of some journalists of the organisation. The Special Cell has registered a new case and started the investigation, officials said.

On 17 August, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police registered a first information report (FIR) under Sections 13, 16, 17, 18 and 22 of the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act pertaining to unlawful activities such as the raising of funds for a terrorist act or threatening witnesses and Sections 153A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for promoting religious enmity between groups and criminal conspiracy, respectively.

The FIR by the Delhi Police was registered days after a report published on 8 August in The New York Times alleged that the portal received money from American businessman Neville Roy Singham to spread Chinese propaganda.

The allegations are already under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) since 2021. The ED has accused the company of money laundering, claiming that the portal received Rs 77 crore as foreign remittances between the years 2018-21.