NewsClick, an online news portal received Rs 86 crore funding from China for spreading anti-Bharat propaganda as stated in the FIR registered by the Delhi police. Police said that NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha was arrested after it found evidence that the online news portal pushed a global agenda to show that Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir are not part of Bharat.
Prabir Purkayastha was arrested on Tuesday along with Amit Chakravarty, the Human Resource head at NewsClick. Their arrest came after the police conducted raids on the NewsClick premises and the houses of several journalists and employees linked with the news portal.
In the FIR against NewsClick, the Special Cell has alleged that the portal had been receiving funds since 2018 from three different entities – two linked to Neville Roy Singham, US-based businessman and a close confident of Purkayastha and a Chinese emphathiser, and a third to his wife’s NGO.
According to ED investigation, the company has claimed receiving export remittance of Rs 76.84 crores, Rs 1.61 crore, Rs 26.98 lakh and Rs 2.03 lakh from Justice and Education Fund Inc. USA, The Tricontinental Ltd. Inc. USA, GSPAN LLC USA and Centro Popular De Midas, Brazil respectively from March 2018 till it was searched by the agency in 2021.
The Delhi Police also alleged that Gautam Navlakha, a shareholder in NewsClick, had worked with banned naxal organisations and had an anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai, an ISI agent. According to the police, the foreign funds received by Prabir Purkayastha were routed to Gautam Navlakha, who was an accused in Bhima Koregaon case, and others, including activist Teesta Setalvad.