‘Illegal’ funds from China, Kashmir conspiracy: What Delhi Police’s probe against NewsClick revealed

The Delhi Police have accused NewsClick of receiving funds from China “illegally” to “disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India”. Prabir Purkayastha, founder of the news portal, and Amit Chakravarty, its Human Resources (HR) head, have been sent to seven-day police custody after being arrested in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case against the organisation. The duo’s arrest came after the Delhi Police Special Cell conducted raids at 88 locations in the National Capital and seven places in other states, including at houses of journalists associated with NewsClick, on Tuesday (3 October). These day-long raids came following a New York Times report in August that claimed NewsClick was among organisations that received funds from American tech mogul Neville Roy Singham to push “Chinese propaganda”. What are the allegations against NewsClick? What has the news portal said? Let’s take a closer look. On Kashmir and Arunachal Authorities allege that NewsClick engaged in a “conspiracy” to show that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories. The Delhi Police, which had initially sought 15-day police custody for Purkayastha and Chakravarty, said in its remand application, “Secret inputs revealed that Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham and some other Chinese employees of Singham-owned Shanghai-based company have exchanged mails which expose their intent to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not part of India,” reported news agency PTI. The application alleged that the “analysis of the e-mails” revealed that Singham, Purkayastha and Chakravarty are in “direct touch” with each other and had discussed “how to create a map of India without Kashmir and to show Arunachal Pradesh as disputed area”, reported Newslaundry. For this, the accused got over Rs 115 crore “in the guise of foreign funds”, the police claimed. “Such attempts by these persons reveal their conspiracy to peddle a narrative, both globally and domestically, that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories. Their attempts to tinker with the northern borders of India and to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not parts of India in maps amount to an act intended towards undermining the unity and territorial integrity of India,” the remand application stated. ‘Funds from China’ The Delhi Police have alleged that crores of rupees were received since April 2018 “by M/S PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd through illegal means during a short span of five years from M/s Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, USA and others”. “The news website (NewsClick) was receiving funds from China. They received funds from a Shanghai-based US businessman, Neville Roy Singham. They published stories with a set narrative about protests and violence to tarnish India’s image to create unrest,” a source in Delhi Police told ThePrint. As per Newslaundry, the remand application alleged that “secret inputs have been received that foreign funds in crores have been infused illegally in India by Indian and foreign entities inimical to India in pursuance of conspiracy with the intention to disrupt sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, to cause disaffection against India and to threaten the unity, integrity, security of India”. ALSO READ: _NewsClick_ Raids: Who was under Delhi Police’s radar? What have the cops recovered? Other allegations According to the Delhi Police, activist Gautam Navlakha – who was jailed in 2020 in the Bhima Koregaon case and is currently under house arrest – is a shareholder in NewsClick and was involved in “anti-Indian and unlawful activities”. “It is learnt that Gautam Navlakha who is a shareholder in PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd since its inception in the year 2018, remained involved in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as actively supporting banned Naxal organisations and having anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai who is an agent of ISI of Pakistan. It was also learnt that Gautam Navlakha is associated with Prabir Purkayastha since 1991 when they incorporated Sagrik Process Analyst Pvt Ltd,” Newslaundry quoted the application as saying. The police further alleged that “illegally routed” foreign funds were “syphoned off” by Purkayastha and his associates Joseph Raj, Anoop Chakraborty (Amit Chakraborty’s brother) and Bappaditya Sinha, a promoter of Virtunet Systems Pvt Ltd. These funds were then distributed to Navlakha, “associates of Teesta Setalvad namely Javed Anand, Tamara, Jibran, Urmilesh, Aratrika Halder, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Trina Shankar, Abhisar Sharma, etc.” [caption id=“attachment_13206542” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, associated with NewsClick, was among those people whose houses were raided by Delhi Police on 3 October. Reuters[/caption] The Delhi police also signalled at attempts to “protract” the yearlong farmers’ protest against the Centre’s now-repealed three farm laws. “The accused persons have also conspired to disrupt supplies and services essential to the life of community in India and abet damage and destruction of property by protraction of farmers’ protest through such illegal foreign funding,” the application alleged, as per PTI. The application stated that the accused persons spread a “false narrative” to “discredit” the Central government’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The NewsClick founder allegedly “conspired” with the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS), a civil society outfit, to “sabotage the electoral process” during the 2019 general elections, the police said. However, PADS’ former convenor, Shriniwas Rao, has claimed the group was only active until 2018, reported Newslaundry. The police have also accused NewsClick of using the People’s Dispatch portal, which the digital site owns and maintains, for “intentionally peddling these false narratives through paid news in lieu of crores of rupees of illegally routed foreign funds as part of conspiracy,” Newslaundry reported. Seeking the remand of the accused, the police said they need to be questioned over the 4.27 lakh emails from Purkayastha and Chakravarty extracted from several electronic devices by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during its probe. NewsClick responds NewsClick said in its statement that it does not publish propaganda and its funding had been received through “appropriate banking channels”. “All funding received by NewsClick has been through the appropriate banking channels and has been reported to the relevant authorities as required by law,” the news portal said on Wednesday (4 October).

STATEMENT BY NEWSCLICK

We want to state for the record: 

1. Newsclick is an independent news website. 

2. Our journalistic content is based on the highest standards of the profession. 

3. Newsclick does not publish any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity…

— NewsClick (@newsclickin) October 4, 2023

The portal said it does not “propagate Chinese propaganda”. “Newsclick does not publish any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity or authority, directly or indirectly,” the statement shared on X, formerly Twitter, read. The NewsClick statement said it does not “take directions” from Singham regarding its content. Dubbing the New York Times article “bogus”, NewsClick said the government has invoked UAPA to “stifle fearless voices” that show the story of “real India”. With inputs from agencies