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Puryakastha and Chakravarty were arrested on October 3 following a series of raids and were remanded in police custody for seven days
A Delhi Court on Thursday ordered supply of FIR to NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty, arrested in a case lodged under the UAPA following allegations about the news portal having received money for pro-China propaganda.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House Court allowed the applications moved by Puryakastha and Chakravarty.
During the hearing, the Delhi Police opposed the applications filed for the supply of a copy of the FIR. Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava on behalf of the State cited a Supreme Court judgment and contended that the accused should approach the police commissioner, who would then form a committee regarding the same. He contended that the accused has to follow the "step-by-step procedure" prescribed by the Supreme Court.
The SPP also contended that the application was "premature" and they could not "directly jump before the court".
On the other hand, the counsel for Chakravarty sought written grounds for his client's arrest by the Delhi Police and said that providing the grounds for arrest to an accused is a "constitutional safeguard".
Notably, on October 4, the judge had issued notice to the Delhi Police on the website's founder an HR head's plea
The court had agreed to hand over a “copy of the remand application”, filed by Delhi police, to Advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, the counsel for the accused.
Puryakastha and Chakravarty were arrested on October 3 following a series of raids and were remanded in police custody for seven days after they were produced at the judge’s residence, on Tuesday night.
The raids were conducted in the wake of allegations made in a New York Times article that NewsClick was being paid to boost Chinese propaganda.
According to reports, the Delhi Police on Tuesday searched more than 30 locations, questioned several journalists in connection with the case, and arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty. Police sealed NewsClick's office in Delhi.
It is also stated that 46 'suspects' were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, and documents were taken away for examination. Among those questioned were journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Sohail Hashmi, satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology & Development. After being questioned for over six hours, they were allowed to go.
NewsClick and Purkayastha had earlier approached the High Court seeking a copy of the ECIR registered by ED in September 2020 in the money laundering case. The Court, in 2021, had directed the ED not to take any coercive action against the website and its founder.
Subsequently, in August 2023, the ED moved the High Court seeking directions to vacate the interim order asking ED not to take "any coercive action" against PPK NewsClick Studio Private Limited, which owns a news portal NewsClick and its founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, in connection with a money laundering case. The same is under consideration and notice has been issued in the matter.
A few days later, Delhi Police's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) also moved the High Court seeking directions to vacate the interim order asking it to not take "any coercive action" against the website and its founder. Notice has been issued in EOW's plea. Both matters are under consideration before Justice Saurabh Banerjee.
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