Chinese funds given to NewsClick to derail India’s sovereignty: Police
The foreign funds were fraudulently infused in NewsClick by an active member of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China, Neville Roy Singham, the police claimed in the FIR
A Delhi Police FIR alleges that vast amount of funds came from China to news portal NewsClick to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and cause disaffection against the country.
The FIR also alleges that NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha conspired with a group, the People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS), including PADS convenor Battini Rao, historian Dilip Simeon, social activist Deepak Dholakia, director of Delhi-based NGO Aman Trust Jamal Kidwai and journalist Kiran Shaheen, among others, to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The foreign funds were fraudulently infused by an active member of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China, Neville Roy Singham, the police claimed.
Delhi Police provided a copy of the FIR to NewsClick on Friday (October 6), a day after a court directed it to do so. PTI quoted the FIR as saying: "Chinese telecom giants like Xiaomi, Vivo etc., incorporated thousands of shell companies in India in violation of the PMLA, FEMA for illegally infusing foreign funds in India in furtherance of this conspiracy.
Chinese conspiracy
"In furtherance of this conspiracy to disrupt the sovereignty of India and cause disaffection against India, a large amount of funds was routed from China in a circuitous and camouflaged manner and paid news were intentionally peddled, criticising domestic policies, development projects of India and promoting, projecting and defending policies and programmes of the Chinese government," it said.
The FIR also claimed that these foreign funds were allegedly distributed to activist Gautam Navlakha and associates of activists Teesta Seetalvad, her husband and activist Javed Anand, and journalists Urmilesh and Aratrika Halder, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Abhisar Sharma, and others.
According to the FIR, Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has been associated with Purkayastha since 1991 and is also a shareholder of PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt Ltd since 2018.
"Navlakha remained involved in the anti-national nexus with Ghulam Nabu Fai, who is an agent of ISI of Pakistan. Prabir, Neville and other employees of Neville's Shanghai-based company StarStream have exchanged mails which expose their intent to show that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not part of India," the FIR read.
"A false narrative was propagated to discredit the efforts of Indian government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic," Delhi Police also said.
Raids and arrests
Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, the human resources department head at NewsClick, were arrested by Delhi Police under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and 153A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on those named in the FIR.
(With agency inputs)
