Amit Chakravarty had moved the Delhi court seeking permission to turn an approver in the case lodged under anti-terror law in December.
NewsClick.
A Delhi court has allowed NewsClick’s human resources department chief Amit Chakravarty to turn an approver in the case lodged against the news portal under anti-terror law UAPA over allegations that it received money to spread pro-China propaganda, court sources told PTI on Tuesday, 9 January.
Special Judge Hardeep Kaur pardoned Chakravarty, arrested in the case, on an application he moved recently seeking the court’s permission to turn an approver, a move that could spell trouble for NewsClick’s Editor-in-Chief and founder Prabir Purkayastha.
Chakravarty also claimed he was in possession of “material information” about the case which he was willing to disclose to the Delhi Police.
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty on 3 October and both of them are currently in judicial custody.
Chakravarty moved the application before Special Judge Hardeep Kaur in December 2023.
The Special Cell arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty on 3 October. They were sent to judicial custody on 10 October.
On 19 October, the top court sought the response of the Delhi Police on pleas of Purkayastha and Chakravarty challenging the Delhi High Court order of 13 October.
The high court had on 13 October dismissed their pleas against the arrest and subsequent police remand in the case.
The police, however, sought their fresh custodial interrogation on 25 October.
On 16 November, the ED issued a fresh summons to Singham under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
On 30 November, a team of Delhi Police went to Mumbai to question activist Gautam Navlakha in connection with the NewsClick probe.
The Delhi Police had registered a case under Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, and 22 of the anti-terror UAPA, and also invoked Sections 153A (promoting enmity between two groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code on 17 August.
According to the Delhi Police’s remand copy, which was submitted before the court on 4 October when it produced Purkayastha and Chakravarty, the analysis of the e-mails shows that US-based businessman Neville Roy Singham, Purkayastha, and Chakravarty were in direct touch with each other and discussed how to create a map of India without Kashmir and to show Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed area.
According to the FIR, a large amount of funds received by the news portal came from China to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and cause disaffection against the country.
It also alleged Purkayastha conspired with a group — People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) — to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on 3 October on the suspects named in the FIR and those that surfaced in the analysis of data, the police said.
Around 300 electronic gadgets were also seized from the offices of NewsClick and the residences of the journalists who were examined.
Following the raids, 46 individuals, including nine female journalists, were questioned by the Special Cell in Delhi and NCR.
(With PTI inputs)
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