The SupremeCourt will hear plea by NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha challenging his arrests by Delhi police in a UAPA case over allegations of the online news portal receiving Chinese funding to push anti-national propaganda.
Delhi Police had arrested Purkayastha and HR head of NewsClick Amit Chakraborty on October 3 following a series of raids on the team behind NewsClick as well as its contributors, including independent journalists, following the allegations that they received money for promoting Chinese propaganda. After the raids, police sealed the NewsClick’s Delhi office.
The accused were remanded to police custody for seven days on the night of October 3, after they were produced at the judge’s residence.
A total 46 people were interrogated in connection with the charges. Police took away their digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, along with certain documents, for examination.
Those questioned included senior journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta; historian Sohail Hashmi; satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology and Development. They were interrogated for over six hours and allowed to go later.
NewsClick had come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police after a report published in the New York Times accused it of receiving money from US millionaire Neville Roy Singham for promoting pro-China propaganda in India