NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty have been remanded to Delhi police’s custody for nine days in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case against them. The duo is at the centre of an investigation into the case of illegal foreign funding for peddling pro-China propaganda.
The accused will be produced before the Patiala House Court on 2nd November. The duo was arrested on 3rd October and remanded to seven days police custody initially. They have been in judicial custody ever since 10th October. They were produced in court today upon the completion of their judicial custody.
On 13th October, the Delhi High Court dismissed the pleas challenging the arrest of Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakraborty.
Following raids at 40 residences of journalists linked to NewsClick and their office in Delhi, the Delhi police’s special cell registered an FIR against the portal on 17th August under Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, and 22 of the UAPA and Sections 153A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Delhi Police had registered a fresh case under UAPA, other than the ED case, as per reports. UAPA is related to charges under terrorist activities and terror funding. The NewsClick office was sealed by the police.
Teesta Setalvad, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yetchury, Sanjay Rajoura, and others were among those who faced action by the Delhi Police.
The case exploded following an investigative report by The New York Times which revealed that NewsClick was among a bunch of portals which was receiving funds from a Communist billionaire Neville Roy Singham in the US in exchange for running pro-China content in India.
According to the remand report, NewsClick received funds in crores of rupees since April 2018 through illegal means in a span of just five years from Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, USA and others.
