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Synopsis

A division bench of the Supreme Court has issued notice today in the plea by NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR department head Amit Chakraborty challenging the Delhi High Court's recent dismissal of their plea againts arrests made in a UAPA case.

Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra has issued notice returnable on October 30, 2023.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Purkayastha and Chakraborty was represented by Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat.

Sibal had mentioned the plea on Monday before a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.

"He is 70 years old..", Sibal had told the bench referring to the founder's age.

"We will list it", CJI had responded.

A single judge bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela of the Delhi High Court on Friday, October 13, had "dismissed" the pleas filed challenging the arrest of Purkayastha and Chakraborty.

It is to be noted that Purkayastha and Chakraborty are currently in Judicial Custody. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House Court on October 10 remanded the two to judicial custody for ten days.

Notably, the high court on October 9, had 'reserved order' in the pleas. Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Dayan Krishnan appeared for Purkayastha, and Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta appeared for the State.

As far as the arrest was considered, SGI Mehta had contended that a huge sum of Rs. 75 crore came from a person in China, and the purpose was to ensure that the stability and integrity of the country were compromised.

“One of the most serious allegations is that they prepare a map with the northern borders of India, showing Arunachal Pradesh & J&K as not parts of India”, he had added.

Opposing the arrest, Sibal had argued that till date the police had not given the accused persons the grounds of arrest and had just supplied the arrest memo.

He had argued that they had only given reasons which were general, and there were no proper grounds. "Grounds of arrest have not been filed by the State. Not a single document shows that the petitioner siphoned money", he had added.

Allegations in Delhi Police FIR

As per the FIR filed by the Delhi Police, Prabir Purkayastha conspired with a group namely People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to sabotage the electoral process during 2019 General Elections.

"Big Chinese Telecom companies like Xiaomi, Vivo, etc. incorporated thousands of shell companies in India in violation of PMLA/FEMA for illegally infusing foreign funds in India to further anti-India conspiracy", the FIR stated.

As per the FIR, Purkayastha along with Neville Roy Singham, Geeta Hariharan, and Gautam Bhatia (key person) conspired to create a Legal Community Network in India to campaign for and defend legal cases against these Chinese Telecom Companies.

Case Title: Prabir vs. State of NCT Delhi