NewsClick office sealed, founder held; 9 journalists quizzed

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Tuesday arrested NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and his HR head Amit Chakravarty in connection with a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA following allegations that it received money for pro-China propaganda. The police also sealed the NewsClick office in South Delhi, while the Opposition dubbed it a “distraction from the explosive findings of the Bihar caste census”.

In a statement issued by the police, a total of 37 male suspects were questioned at the special cell office, while nine female suspects were quizzed at their respective residences and digital devices and documents have been seized for examination.

“The proceedings are still ongoing; so far, two accused, Mr Purkayastha and Mr Chakravarty have been arrested,” the police said, adding that further investigation is in progress.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Delhi police’s special cell conducted multiple raids at 30 places. Several police teams searched the houses of nine journalists residing in the Delhi-NCR region and seized their laptops and mobile phones.

NewsClick is alleged to have received dubious funds to spread Chinese propaganda. The allegation was levelled against the portal following a report in the US-based newspaper, The New York Times.

Among those questioned were journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta; historian Sohail Hashmi and D. Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology & Development.

The police posed a list of 25 questions on various issues, including their foreign travels, protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Shaheen Bagh and the farmers' agitation.

According to the Delhi police, those being questioned have been divided into three categories -- A, B and C. The arrests were made in the A category, while the suspects in the B and C categories were left off after questioning.

The team also raided the official premises of CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury’s official residence and questioned his staffer Sri Narayan's son Sumit, who works with NewsClick.

"They sat for around two hours and asked some questions. When they could not find anything, they took Sumit's laptop and phone and said it can be recollected after two days," Mr Yechury said, adding "We condemn the raids; this is an attack on press freedom and the fundamental right to freedom of expression. It has been a pattern in the last nine years... Several media houses and organisations, international and Indian, have been attacked."

Reacting to the raids, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said the probe agencies in the country are independent and work in accordance with the law.

"... If someone has done something wrong, probe agencies work on it... Nowhere is it written that if you have gotten money in an illegal manner or done something objectionable, then probe agencies cannot investigate that," Mr Thakur told the media in Bhubaneswar.

The issue led to political ripples, with the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party reacting to the searches and criticising the government for the action.

The Opposition bloc "INDIA" strongly condemned the raids and alleged that the BJP government's "coercive" actions are directed only against those who speak truth to power and not against those who spread hatred and divisiveness.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance said in a statement that the government has also tried to convert the media into a mouthpiece for its partisan and ideological interests by facilitating the takeover of media organisations by crony capitalists.

Congress leader Pawan Khera said the early morning raids on contributing journalists at NewsClick come as a "fresh distraction from the explosive findings of the caste census in Bihar and the growing demand for caste census across the country."

“The Congress preaching about the press is like Satan preaching about scriptures,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla retorted.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the searches a sign of a "losing BJP."

Condemning the raids, the All India Forward Bloc said the police raids on journalists linked to the online news portal NewsClick are against all democratic norms and "tantamount to intimidation".

AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar alleged that the Modi government is pretending to fight China by arresting journalists because it didn't have the courage to engage with it directly.

Many media bodies, including the Press Club of India, the Editors Guild of India and the Indian Women's Press Corps, condemned the raids.

The PCI said: "We are monitoring the developments and we stand in solidarity with the journalists and demand the government to come out with details."

While the EGI termed it yet another attempt to muzzle the media, the IWPC expressed deep outrage.

The Newsclick management, in a statement, asserted that whatever funding they have received is through legal sources and evidence has been submitted to the Delhi high court.

Mr Urmilesh and Mr Chakravarty emerged from the Delhi police special cell office at Lodhi Road after about six hours of questioning around 4.15 pm, but they did not respond to the media queries.

Mr Sharma came out of the probe agency's office about an hour later. He was followed by Mr Raghunandan, who said that he was asked general questions about NewsClick.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids at the firm's premises to probe its sources of funding. The special cell is now continuing the searches on the basis of inputs provided by the Central agency, the officials said.

The Delhi police special cell has registered a new case under the anti-terror law. The raids are based on a case registered in August under the UAPA and other sections of the IPC, including Section 153A (promoting enmity between two groups), 120B (criminal conspiracy).

In August, the Delhi high court sought Mr Purkayastha's stand on a plea by the city police seeking vacation of an earlier order granting him interim protection from arrest in an unlawful foreign funding case.

The website recently hit the headlines for allegedly receiving money from US millionaire Neville Roy Singham for pro-China propaganda in India. Citing an investigation by The New York Times, Mr Thakur had recently claimed that NewsClick's money trail revealed an "anti-India agenda".