Delhi Police arrest 2 after raids at houses of journalists, commentators linked to ‘NewsClick’

The police took away personal communication devices of the journalists — cell phones and laptops. No arrests have been made yet, though some of the journalists are reportedly being questioned at various locations.

No details are available about the fate of the journalists, though news agency ANI released the reaction of Union Minister Anurag Thakur saying: “I don’t need to justify… If anyone has committed anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them under set guidelines…”

The raids took place simultaneously at their residences in Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad early on Tuesday.

The Special Cell has registered a new case and started an investigation, officials said.

The police action took place in connection with a case registered on 17 August. The case was filed under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Visuals of one of the journalists, Urmilesh, being taken by Delhi police have surfaced in the media. However, according to the police, no arrests have been made yet.

Officials in the know said police have recovered the dump data from laptops and mobile phones of some journalists of NewsClick.

Some journalists, including Urmilesh and Abhishar Sharma, have been brought to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office, but no one has been arrested so far, they said.

A team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell took journalist Abhisar Sharma with it after questioning him at his home in Noida Extension.

The list includes several from the Newsclick stable, including Editor Prabir Purkayastha, veteran journalist Urmilesh, senior journalists Abhisar Sharma and Bhasha Singh.

Journalist-commentator Aunindyo Chakravarty, writer Githa Hariharan, historian Sohail Hashmi, and satirist Sanjay Rajaura are the others.

Today, early morning at 6 am, Delhi Police’s special cell raided Sohail Hashmi’s residence. 6 people barged into the house and the bedroom . Questioned him for two hours . The cops have seized his computer, phone, hard disc and flash drives. His residence was one among many…

— Shabnam Hashmi (@ShabnamHashmi) October 3, 2023

Raids were conducted at @Sumedhapal4 ‘s house. Her phone and laptop has also been taken by the Delhi Police. Meanwhile Delhi Police Special Cell has taken @BBauuaa for interrogation. Attack on journalists for merely doing their work is outrageous. Not the time for us to be quiet.

— Nikita Jain (@nikita_jain15) October 3, 2023

According to the news agency ANI, the police also reached the residence of CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to question one Sunmit Kumar, who works for NewsClick and is the son of his staff member.

The team seized Sunmit Kumar’s mobile, laptop, and hard drive.

Describing the raids as an attempt to suppress the media, Yechury was quoted as saying: “Police came to my residence because one of my companions who lives with me there, his son works for News Click…. What are they investigating? Nobody knows. If this is an attempt to muzzle the media, the country must know the reason behind this.”

Press bodies react

At least two journalists, Abhisar Sharma and Bhasha Singh, took to X with their last messages just before their phones were seized.

Sharma recorded at 8.05am: “Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and my phone…”
At 8:41am, Singh posted on X: “Finally last tweet from this phone. Delhi police seizure (sic) my phone.”

The Press Club of India was the first association of journalists to decry the police operation. It said it was “deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with Newsclick”.

The Network of Women in Media, India described the raids as “shocking”.

राहुल जी,उर्मिलेश समेत कई पत्रकारों के यहां दिल्ली पुलिस की छापेमारी चल रही है. उर्मिलेश के घर पर हूं. 6 लोग हैं. कोई वारंट नहीं. लोधी रोड थाना लेकर जा रहे. उनका फोन किताबें, मैगजीन जब्त कर लिया. लोकतंत्र की अर्थी उठाई जा रही है. कुछ कीजिए

@RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/sabxtBb9mB

— Vishwa Deepak (@vdiimc) October 3, 2023

Expressing concerns over the police action on the journalists of the news portal, the DIGIPUB News India Foundation said, “They have been detained, their phones and laptops seized. This is another instance of the government’s pattern of arbitrary and intimidatory behaviour. We are keeping an eye on developments.”

A citizen’s protest has been called at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to agitate against the police raids.

In a separate statement, the National Alliance of Journalists, the Delhi Union of Journalists and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (Delhi unit) condemned the police raids.

“The government has been targeting Newsclick apparently after the coverage this news portal gave to the issues of workers and farmers,” the statement by the National Alliance of Journalists, the Delhi Union of Journalists and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (Delhi Unit) alleged.

“We believe that this is yet another attempt by the Centre to muzzle the freedom of the press. Such an action, raiding and intimidating almost all the employees in a media organisation is unheard of,” it said.

“These new raids are to divert public attention from burning livelihood issues of people … We condemn this with the strongest possible words. We will stand with these journalists in this matter. We urge the Centre to immediately stop this attack on press freedom…,” it added.

The Editors Guild of India said on X that it was “deeply concerned” by the raids on NewsClick employees, and “the subsequent detention of many of those journalists”. Here is the full statement:

EGI is deeply concerned about the raids at the residences of senior journalists on the morning of October 3, and the subsequent detention of many of those journalists. Urges the state to follow due process, and not to make draconian criminal laws as tools for press intimidation pic.twitter.com/lHwOTi3XcS

— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) October 3, 2023

INDIA bloc condemns raids

Meanwhile, the Opposition bloc INDIA on Tuesday strongly condemned the raids on NewsClick journalists and alleged that the BJP government’s “coercive” actions were directed only against those who speak truth to power and not against those who spread hatred and divisiveness.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) said in a statement that the government had also tried to convert the media into a mouthpiece for its partisan and ideological interests by facilitating the takeover of media organisations by crony capitalists.

“Both the government and its ideologically aligned organisations have resorted to reprisals against individual journalists who spoke truth to power. Furthermore, the BJP government has also spearheaded regressive policies like the Information Technology Rules 2021 that constrict the media from reporting objectively. In doing so, the BJP is not only hiding its sins of omission and commission from the people of India. It is also compromising India’s global standing as a mature democracy,” the opposition alliance said in the statement.

“The BJP government’s coercive actions are invariably directed against only those media organisations and journalists that speak truth to power. Ironically, the BJP government is paralysed when it comes to taking action against those journalists inciting hatred and divisiveness in the nation,” it said.

It would behove the government, the opposition alliance said, to focus on genuine issues of concern to the nation and the people, and stop attacking the media to distract attention from its failures.

According to the statement, the INDIA parties strongly condemn the government’s fresh attack on the media. “We steadfastly stand with the media and for the constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and expression,” it said.

In the last nine years, the BJP government has deliberately persecuted and suppressed the media by deploying investigative agencies to suppress the British Broadcasting Corporation, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar, Bharat Samachar, the Kashmir Walla, The Wire etc., and most recently the journalists of NewsClick, the opposition parties said.

Related: Delhi HC seeks NewsClick founder’s stand on Delhi Police plea

The background

Today’s raids have their roots in a statement of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. On 7 August, Dubey said in the Lok Sabha he was citing a 5 August report in the New York Times (NYT) alleging that Congress leaders and Newsclick had received funds from China to create “an anti-India atmosphere”.

The BJP member alleged the American daily quoted a figure of ₹38 crore that Newsclick reportedly received. He informed the House also about the newspaper referring to an Enforcement Directorate raid on Newsclick on 2021.

The raids, related to foreign remittances and money laundering charges, were conducted in February that year. The portal promoters got protection from arrest from the Delhi High Court where the matter lies.

Dubey also took the names of a couple of other journalists for allegedly receiving “Chinese money”, though he submitted no evidence to that effect. One of the journalists called him out at once. The name of this journalist and a couple of others were later expunged from the record.

The journalist also issued a statement later, saying: “This is a BJP MP misusing my name. While my name has been expunged, this government has done everything it can to intimidate me and to silence me. This is another attempt to silence me but I will not be silenced and I will continue to do my work as a journalist.”

The NYT article named  American Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly has close links with the Chinese government for propaganda financing.

The link to Newsclick was allegedly that, according to the paper, Singham and his network financed the newsportal to add talking points about the Chinese government in its coverage.

Dubey went on to give a lot of information about the Congress allegedly receiving money from China during 2005 and 2014.

The Congress questioned Dubey’s intentions and made a counter-charge against the BJP government at the Centre, questioning its silence on reported Chinese encroachment in the Ladakh region.

Enforcement Directorate case

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids at the firm’s premises probing its sources of funding. The Special Cell is now raiding the media firm on the basis of inputs provided by the central agency.

In August, the Delhi High Court sought the stand of NewsClick Founder and Editor-in-Chief Purkayastha on a plea by the city police seeking vacation of an earlier order granting him interim protection from arrest in an unlawful foreign funding case.

Citing the investigation by The New York Times, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur too recently claimed that the NewsClick‘s money trail revealed an “anti-India agenda.”