Delhi Police Arrests NewsClick Founder Prabir Purkayastha

On 3rd October, the Founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, Mr. Prabir Purkayastha was arrested under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act by Delhi police.

NewsClick is being charged because of “Chinese propaganda” !!

New York Times reported that the NewsClick website had received funds from an American millionaire who has funded the spread of “Chinese propaganda.”Some weeks after that Investigative authorities of India registered a case against the NewsClick site and its journalists on 17 August.“Regarding the search, seizure, and detentions carried out today in connection with a UAPA case registered with Special Cell, so far, two accused, Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty have been arrested.” This was informed by Delhi police.

As part of the investigation, Prabir Purkayastha and another journalist of Newsclick, Anindya Chakraborty, have been arrested, Delhi Police said. Before that, at least 30 places related to Newsclick and journalists of this organization were searched. The searches began early in the morning and were concentrated in Delhi-NCR. Earlier in the day, portal founder and editor-in-chief Purkayastha was taken to the Special Cell’s office for questioning. Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta as well as historian Sohail Hashmi, satirist Sanjay Rajoura, and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology & Development were also been questioned.

“After a day-long interrogation by Delhi’s special cell, I am back home. Every question posed will be answered. Nothing to fear. And I will keep questioning people in power particularly those who are afraid of simple questions. Not backing down at any cost,” Abhisar Sharma posted on X.

Previously, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had alleged a case against NewsClick about its financial transactions. This central agency had also seized assets linked to the news portal. Income Tax officers had also searched the news portal’s offices in 2021 in connection to an alleged tax evasion case.