NewsClick row: Delhi court sends portal founder and HR head to nine-day police remand

The founder of the portal Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarthy were arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police under the antiterror law UAPA following allegations of Chinese- funding

NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha (L) and HR Head Amit Chakravarty being brought to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office, in New Delhi, on Oct. 3, 2023. (File Photo | PTI) 

A Delhi Court on Wednesday sent NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty to custodial remand till November 2, 2023.

They were produced in the court on the expiry of their 15-day judicial custody granted by the Delhi court earlier.

The founder, Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Chakraborty were arrested on October 3 after the Delhi Police searched 30 locations connected with the news portal and its journalists in a case filed under the UAPA following allegations that it received money for pro-China propaganda.

According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal allegedly came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country.

It also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

READ MORE | NewsClick rejects allegations levelled in FIR against it as untenable, bogus