DELHI:
The Delhi Police conducted raids on various journalists affiliated with the NewsClick website on October 3, related to a case filed under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
This case, registered by Delhi Police on August 17, is in response to a New York Times investigation that claimed the news portal had received funding from a network promoting Chinese propaganda, receiving funding from China.
The organisation is being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
According to sources, the funds was acquired illegally and the authorities were not given the required documentation.
As per sources, these raids led to the confiscation of laptops and phones belonging to some journalists. The searches were carried out at approximately two dozen locations in Delhi-NCR by officers from the Special Cell of Delhi Police. While no arrests have been reported yet, several journalists have been taken to police stations for questioning.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur, responding to media questions, said in Bhubaneswar, ‘The probe agencies are independent and they are doing their jobs by following rules. I don’t need to justify the raids. If someone has done something wrong, the probe agencies do their job. It’s nowhere written that probe agencies can’t take action if money has come to you from wrong sources or something objectionable has been done.’
The Press Club of India expressed concern, using the hashtag #DefendMediaFreedom on X: ‘The Press Club Of India is deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with Newsclick. We are monitoring the developments and will be releasing a detailed statement.’