A Delhi Court on Wednesday sent NewsClick Founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR Head Amit Chakravarty to custodial remand till November 2, 2023. They were arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police under the anti-terror law UAPA following allegations that News Portal NewsClick received huge money for pro-China propaganda.

 

The two were in judicial custody from October 10 and were produced before the court as their judicial custody ended today. The Delhi Police said they needed the accused's police remand to confront them with protected witnesses. Purkayastha and Chakraborty are to be produced before the court on November 2.



 

The police had requested the court on October 10 to send the accused persons to jail and had submitted that the agency could ask for their further custodial interrogation later.


The police on Wednesday told the judge that it wanted to confront the accused with some protected witnesses and also some devices which were examined and the data that has been extracted.


Advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, appearing for Purkayastha, opposed the police remand plea claiming that there was no new ground in the application.


Purkayastha and Chakraborty were arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on October 3 after raids at the website's office in Delhi over allegations of funding to spread Chinese propaganda.


According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country. It also accused Purkayastha of conspiring with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.


At least 88 locations were raided in Delhi and seven in other states on October 3 on the suspects named in the FIR and those that surfaced in the analysis of data, police said.


Around 300 electronic gadgets were also seized from the offices of NewsClick and the residences of the journalists who were examined.


Following the raids, 46 individuals, including nine female journalists, were questioned by the Special Cell in Delhi and NCR, reported PTI.