NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has accused NewsClick founder and editor Prabir Purkayastha and
others of being involved in anti-India propaganda using Chinese funds. Newsclick responded to the charges by calling them “untenable and bogus.”
The FIR, registered on August 17 under the stringent UAPA and relevant sections of the IPC, says that since April 2018, funds in crores of rupees were received by NewsClick through illegal means during a span of five years from Neville Roy Singham, a resident of Shanghai, who is a member of the propaganda department of Communist Party of China.
The police said Purkayastha and others used the funds for activities that were against the country’s sovereignty. NewsClick has said in a statement that it “has not received any funding or instructions from China or Chinese entities. Further, Newsclick has never committed or sought to encourage violence, secession or any illegal act in any manner whatsoever. A perusal of Newsclick’s coverage, which is freely available online, should be sufficient to indicate the veracity of Newsclick’s claims...”
The FIR said a “large amount of funds was routed from China in the circuitous and camouflaged manner and paid news were intentionally peddled criticising domestic policies, development projects of India and promoting, projecting and defending policies of the Chinese government.”
NewClick said, “The allegations in the FIR, apart from being ex facie untenable and bogus, have been made time and again, in investigations by three government agencies — the Enforcement Directorate, the Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police, and the income tax department. None of these investigations led to any chargesheets or complaints over the last three years...”
The FIR has alleged that big Chinese telecom firms, like Xiaomi and Vivo, incorporated thousands of shell firms in India in violation of PMLA/FEMA for illegally infusing foreign funds. The FIR also mentioned the name of Gautam Navlakha, who the police stated has been a shareholder in NewsClick since 2018.