The FIR also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 General Elections.
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has alleged that NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and the portal’s human resources (HR) head Amit Chakravarty illegally received crores of rupees in foreign funds and deployed the same with an intention to disrupt the sovereignty, unity and security of India.
The copy of the first information report (FIR) reveals the allegations against the two as well as other persons named in the FIR.
As per the FIR, secret inputs suggest that substantial foreign funds were illegally funneled into India by both Indian and foreign entities. These funds, amounting to crores of rupees, were received by Newsclick through illegal means over a span of five years.
Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested on October 3 following a series of raids conducted in the wake of allegations made in an New York Times article that NewsClick was being paid to boost Chinese propaganda.
A series of raids were conducted on the morning of October 3 by the Delhi Police on the team behind NewsClick as well as its contributors, including independent journalists.
Besides the UAPA case, a money laundering case filed earlier is also pending against NewsClick.
The FIR names the following persons as shareholders of NewsClick – Prabir Purkayastha, Amit Sengupta, Doraeeswami Raghunandan, Bappaditya Sinha, Gautam Navlakha, Geeta Hariharan and Amit Chakraborty.
Notably, the FIR mentions that Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham, Geeta Hariharan and Gautam ‘Bhatia’ conspired to create a legal community network to campaign for and put up spirited defense in cases against these companies.
No other details of Gautam Bhatia are mentioned in the FIR.
Navlakha, a shareholder in NewsClick, is alleged to have been involved in anti-Indian activities, including supporting banned Naxal organizations and having connections with individuals associated with Pakistan’s ISI.
According to the FIR, the funds were fraudulently infused by Singham, allegedly an active member of the Communist Party of China’s Propaganda department, through a complex network of entities,
The FIR claims that the illegally routed foreign funds were siphoned off by Purkayastha and associates Joseph Raj, Anoop Chakraborty and Bappaditya Sinha, among others.
The Delhi Police also alleged that Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Vivo incorporated thousands of shell companies in India in violation of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Some of the other allegations in the FIR are:
– Accused attempted to tinker with northern borders of India, show Arunachal and J&K as not parts of India;
– Accused attempted to disrupt supplies and services;
– Attempted to cause damage to property by protracting farmers’ protests. Obtained illegal foreign funds to support farmers’ protests, create internal law and order problems.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/newsclick-arrests-what-the-fir-says
