NewsClick Row: Patiala Court Sends Founder, HR Head to Police Custody till Nov 2

Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Wednesday remanded NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and human resources department head Amit Chakravarty to police custody till November 2, 2023.

They are facing charges under the anti-terror law UAPA, which allege that the news portal received funds to disseminate pro-China propaganda.

The accused were produced before the court following the expiration of their 15-day judicial custody, which had been granted earlier. On October 10, the police had requested the court to send the accused to jail, stating that they might seek further custodial interrogation later.

During the hearing, the police expressed their intention to confront the accused with protected witnesses and certain devices that had been examined and from which data had been extracted.

Advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, who represented Prabir Purkayastha, opposed the police’s request for remand, arguing that there were no new grounds presented in the application.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty on October 3. According to the FIR, substantial funds from China were funneled to the news portal with the intent to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and foment disaffection against the country. The FIR also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group called the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to subvert the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on October 3, targeting the individuals named in the FIR and those identified during data analysis, as reported by the police. Approximately 300 electronic devices were seized from NewsClick offices and the journalists’ residences, and 46 individuals, including nine female journalists, were interrogated by the Special Cell in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) following the raids.