Achi news desk-
- Hindi News
- National
- Delhi Police Files Charge Sheet Against Newsclic | Financing China | Prabir Purkayastha In UAPA Case
New Delhi8 hours ago
- copy link
The special cell of the Delhi Police arrived with documents filled in two boxes.
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Saturday (March 30) filed an 8,000-page chargesheet against news portal Newsclick. The chargesheet alleges that Newsclick received crores of rupees from foreign currency to spread Chinese propaganda. A case has been registered against Newsclick under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA).
The Special Cell filed the charge sheet in the bench of Additional Sessions Judge Dr Hardeep Kaur in Patiala House Court. The hearing on the case will be held on April 16. Prabir Purkayastha is the main accused, while Amit Chakraborty has been made a witness by the government.
Delhi’s Patiala House Court had given time to the Delhi police to file the charge sheet in December last year. The police were given an extension of two months first and then 20 days in February 2024.
Prabir Purkayastha was arrested by Delhi Police Special Cell late night on 3 October 2024.
Newsclick is an online news portal, where news from all over the country and the world is published. It is run by a company called PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited. Prabir Purkayastha started it in 2009. He is also its editor-in-chief.
On October 2, 2023, senior officials of the Delhi Police Special Cell held a meeting. The next day ie on October 3, at 6 am, simultaneous raids were conducted at the locations of journalists and activists associated with Newsclick in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Mumbai.
5 agencies including ED are investigating the case
Five agencies including ED are investigating against Newsclick. First the Delhi Police Special Cell had registered the FIR. Earlier, Economic Crimes Wing of Delhi Police and Income Tax Department were investigating various issues related to this case. After this, CBI registered a case in this matter and started investigation.
The story started 3 years ago with an FIR followed by an ED raid.
The Delhi Police had registered an FIR against Newsclick in August 2020. It was alleged that the website had received foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 9.59 crore from an American company called Worldwide Media Holdings LLC. The share, valued at Rs 10, was said to have been bought at a premium price of Rs 11,510 per share. That too at a time when Newsclick was not making any profit. This is believed to have been done to avoid the upper limit of 26% FDI in Indian media organizations.
After this, the Enforcement Directorate ie ED searched the office of Newsclick, the locations of its directors and associated shareholders. This step was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act ie PMLA. During the search, foreign currency, some documents and digital evidence were seized.
ED investigation revealed that Newsclick received foreign currency worth Rs 38.05 crore in 3 years. Newsclick had received Rs 9.59 crore through FDI and Rs 28.46 crore as export of services.
The case was registered in August 2023
On August 7, 2023, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey in the Lok Sabha, citing the NYT report, accused several journalists of spreading Chinese propaganda. Union Minister, Anurag Thakur also said that Neville Roy Singham has direct connection with the propaganda wing of the Communist Party of China. The government has long been saying that NewsClick is a dangerous global propaganda tactic.
After this, on August 17, 2023, a case was registered against Newsclick under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act ie UAPA and sections 153A (promoting enmity between two communities) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
On October 3, 2023, action was taken on this basis and Purkayastha was arrested. Delhi police questioned a total of 46 people related to this case. These included 37 men and 9 women. The Special Cell had searched 31 locations of Newsclick and its associated journalists.
