Prabir Purkayastha, the founder of NewsClick, was arrested under anti-terror law
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation into the alleged violations in foreign funding by NewsClick website, sources have said.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha on October 3 under anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, days after a New York Times investigation alleged that the news portal had received funding from a network pushing Chinese propaganda.
Amit Chakravarty, the HR head of the news portal, was also arrested.
The arrests were made after day-long searches at the homes of journalists linked with NewsClick across Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had registered a case against the news portal and investigated its funding. The central agency had also attached some assets linked to the news portal.
The case, sources said, relates to alleged violations in foreign funding and its use. The fresh FIR is based on information shared by the Enforcement Directorate.
The ED had earlier alleged that the news portal received a sum of nearly Rs 38 crore from entities linked to China, and how this amount was used is under the scanner.
In August, a New York Times investigation had alleged that NewsClick is among organisations that were funded by a network linked to US millionaire Neville Roy Singham that pushes Chinese propaganda.
The news portal’s offices were also searched by Income Tax officers in 2021 in an alleged tax evasion case.