The Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea of Prabir Purkayastha, the founder of Newsclick, and Amit Chakraborty, the human resource head, challenging their arrest by the Delhi police in a case lodged under the anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The court order also upheld their remand in police custody for seven days. This decision comes despite Purkayastha and Chakravarty’s arguments that their arrest and subsequent detention could not be justified as the grounds of arrest were not provided at the time of their apprehension, and the remand order was passed without the presence of their legal representatives.
A bench of justice Tushar Rao Gedela declared, “This court does not find any merit in both of the petitions; the same are accordingly dismissed.”
The legal saga began on October 3 when Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakraborty were arrested following raids conducted by 400 police officials at around 30 locations across Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai, and Ghaziabad. During the raids, 46 individuals, including journalists, freelancers, writers, and satirists, were questioned for eight hours. Subsequently, the two were produced before a sessions court, which remanded them in police custody for seven days and sent them to Tihar jail until October 20.
In the First Information Report (FIR), the police alleged that the Newsclick founder had conspired with a group called the Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism to disrupt the 2019 general elections and accused Chinese firms like Xiaomi and Vivo of incorporating illegal shell companies to inject foreign funds, thereby endangering the country’s sovereignty.
This legal battle took a significant turn on Wednesday when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at the office premises of NewsClick and initiated a probe into alleged violations of foreign funding laws by the news portal. The CBI registered a case under sections of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) on October 7 based on a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
A CBI spokesperson explained that the case involved allegations that Newsclick received unexplained export remittances of ₹28.46 crore through four foreign entities, violating FCRA provisions. Additionally, there was an alleged unexplained receipt of foreign funds amounting to approximately ₹9.59 crore, which was incorrectly characterized as FDI. The director of the private company and his close associates were accused of violating the provisions of FCRA, 2010.
As this legal battle continues, it remains a significant development in the ongoing investigations surrounding Newsclick and its founder, Prabir Purkayastha, within the broader context of media and foreign funding regulations in India.
Sources By Agencies