A special cell of the Delhi Police on Tuesday morning held searches at the office of the online portal NewsClick and journalists associated with it.
The searches were held across at least 35 locations in New Delhi and Mumbai. Among those raided were NewsClick editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, journalists Abhisar Sharma, Urmilesh and others.
Some of the journalists have been taken to the special cell’s office in Delhi, and the police have clarified that no one has been arrested yet. The police also recovered dump data from laptops and mobile phones of some of the journalists, according to PTI.
While union minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur has defended the police action against NewsClick and journalists associated with it, several Opposition leaders and press bodies have condemned the move.
Why the police has taken action against NewsClick?
The action has been taken on the basis of a case registered on August 17 under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 153A (promoting enmity between two groups), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, according to ANI.
The exact details of the case are, however, not known as there has been no formal word from the Delhi Police yet.
The portal was already being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges. In 2021, the Delhi high court, however, had barred the federal agency from taking any coercive action against NewsClick and its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha.
In August, NewsClick was again at the centre of a row after a New York Times report claimed that the portal was part of a global network that received funding from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly worked closely with the Chinese government media machine.
The news report had cited some emails purportedly sent by Singham to NewsClick in which he wanted a series of articles to highlight China’s steps to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. It had also cited a video published by NewsClick titled “China’s history continues to inspire the working classes”.
The news report had rocked the Monsoon Session of the Parliament as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had attacked the Opposition over the issue.
“In 2021 when India’s law enforcement agencies initiated an inquiry against NewsClick based on strong evidence of money laundering, the Congress and the entire Left-Liberal ecosystem came to defend it,” Thakur had written on X.
NewsClick, however, had denied the claim, saying the allegations “by certain political actors and sections of the media are unfounded and without basis in fact or law”