The arrest of Prabir Purkayastha, founder and editor of NewsClick, along with HR head Amit Chakravarty by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on Tuesday, October 3rd, has catapulted this case into the spotlight. The duo was subsequently remanded to seven days of police custody by a Delhi court on October 4th.
Before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur at Patiala House Courts, the police put forth their arguments for custodial interrogation of the duo. Their reasons included the need to unravel the entire conspiracy, confront the accused with evidence extracted from digital devices, complete the search at the PPK Newsclick office, and probe the accused about the content of incriminating emails. Notably, the police initially sought a 15-day extension of police custody for both individuals.
What has emerged as particularly shocking are the details within the remand note submitted by the police to the court. This document outlines various allegations, ranging from a conspiracy to disrupt the 2019 general elections to the dissemination of distorted maps of India.
What is there in the remand note submitted in the court
The remand note mentions that Prabir Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham and some other Chinese employees of Neville Roy Singham-owned Shanghai-based Company by the name of StarStream have exchanged emails that expose their intent to not show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.
It also said that Prabir Purkayastha and others received funds to create dissatisfaction in India. These persons hatched a conspiracy to peddle a narrative, both globally and domestically, that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories. The remand note states that their attempt to tinker with the northern borders of India amounts to an act intended towards undermining the unity and territorial integrity of India.
Special cell mentioned in the remand note, “A false narrative has been propagated to discredit the efforts of Indian Govt to contain Covid-19 Pandemic. It was learnt that Prabir Purkayastha conspired with a group namely People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 General Elections.”
Special cell said in its remand note, “It is learnt that Gautam Navlakha, who has been a shareholder in PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd since its inception in the year 2018, remained involved in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as actively supporting banned Naxal organisations and having anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai who is an agent of ISI of Pakistan. It was also learnt that Gautam Navlakha has been associated with Prabir Purkayastha since 1991 when they incorporated Sagrik Process Analyst Pvt Ltd.”
The note added, “During the course of the investigation, it has also come to the knowledge that ED has also registered a case Vide number F.No.: ECIR/14/HIU/2020, dated 14.08.23, against PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt ltd. and during the investigation they seized electronic gadgets pertaining to the company and the suspects named in the present FIR. The data extracted by them was received from their office in the five hard disks and the same was analysed. The data contain a total of 4.27 lacs emails in email dumps of Prabir Purkayastha, Amit Chakraborty and other suspects. It also contains a huge number of documents pertaining to the alleged company and alleged suspects.”
The special cell of Delhi police also underlined that the accused persons have conspired to disrupt supplies and services essential to the life of communities in India and abet damage and destruction of property by protraction of the farmers’ protest through such illegal foreign funding.
Crackdown on NewsClick
On 3rd October (late at night), a Delhi court sent Newsclick founder and editor Prabir Purkayastha to a 7-day police remand. HR head of the controversial news portal, Amit Chakravarty, has also been sent to police custody for seven days after being quizzed for hours.
The Delhi Police arrested both of them on 3rd October under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The special cell of the Delhi Police had registered an FIR in the matter 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) against the news portal.
On 3rd October, the NewsClick office was raided and sealed by Delhi Police in connection to the case regarding foreign funding from China to propagate anti-India narratives. Apart from locations linked to NewsClick, the residences of 40 journalists were also raided by Delhi Police across the country as they were connected to the news portal. 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.
Reports suggest that around 46 people were questioned by the Delhi police, and their electronic devices and documents were seized during the raids for examination. The investigation against Newsclick for allegedly receiving funds from China started in 2021. In August 2023, a New York Times investigation also revealed that the portal received funds from China via businessman Neville Roy Singham.
