Delhi Police is likely to submit a charge sheet, running to over 9,000 pages, in the NewsClick case in a court here on Saturday, sources said.
The sources told IANS that a significant sum of money was used to destabilise the country through news articles, and the charge sheet reportedly contains details about seized electronic devices.
NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha, along with its Human Resource Department chief Amit Chakravarty, were arrested by Delhi Police on October 3 last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act following allegations of receiving funds for “pro-China propaganda”. NewsClick has denied the charges.
“During a raid, the police seized around 480 electronic devices. The police are filing charges under UAPA against Prabir Purkayastha,” a source said.
An FIR was filed against the founder of NewsClick on August 17, 2023. Multiple raids were conducted on its premises in October.
Allegations against NewsClick claim they received approximately Rs 38 crore in funding from abroad, sources said.
The FIR alleges that American billionaire Neville Roy Singham was continuously funding NewsClick.
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On August 5, The New York Times published an article titled “A US Tech Mogul Linked to a Global Web of Chinese Propaganda,” alleging that NewsClick, a news portal, was part of a global network receiving funding from American millionaire Singham, who was purportedly closely associated with Chinese government media.
Citing the NYT report, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur asserted that Congress, China, and NewsClick had an “anti-India umbilical cord” and were pushing the agenda of the Communist Party of China through the website. After the NYT report, NewsClick issued a statement two days later, denying the allegations as baseless and lacking factual or legal support. (IANS)
