The police also claimed that the accused "propagated false narratives to discredit the efforts of the Indian government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic."
The FIR against NewsClick and Prabir Purkayastha claimed that telecom companies like Xiaomi and Vivo set up shell companies, allegedly in violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Filed by the Delhi Police's Special Cell on 17 August, the FIR named NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, activist and accused in the Bhima Koregaon case Gautam Navlakha, and US-based tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, for their alleged conspiracy of "peddling a narrative against India."
It was this FIR that led to the raids at the residences of over 40 journalists associated with NewsClick, and the subsequent arrest of Purkayastha and the news portal's Human Resources (HR) Head Amit Chakravarty under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on 3 October.
(Of course, NewsClick has refuted the charges, saying it never published any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity or authority)
Sources say Prabir Purkayastha allegedly conspired with a group named Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism to sabotage the 2019 general elections and that Chinese firms such as Xiaomi and Vivo incorporated shell companies to infuse foreign funds to further the conspiracy, the Delhi Police has said in its First Information Report (FIR).
Navlakha, 70, was among the activists, lawyers, poets, and scholars arrested in 2020 in connection with alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune in December 2017 a day before violence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.
The FIR says the police were investigating the source of money Purkayastha and his associates allegedly received even as it does not mention the names of all 46 suspects questioned in connection with the case on Tuesday.
It adds that Purkayastha allegedly siphoned off the foreign funds and distributed them to Navlakha and associates of activist Teesta Setalvad.
The FIR cites secret inputs and says Indian and foreign entities illegally infused funds worth crores. It adds this was done in pursuance of conspiracy and intention to disrupt India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, cause disaffection, and threaten the country’s unity and integrity.
The FIR invoked multiple sections 13 (unlawful activities), 16 (terrorism), 17 (raising funds for terrorism), 18 (punishment for conspiracy), and 22 (punishment for threatening witness) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, besides sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The FIR refers to Puryakastha, Amit Sengupta, D Raghunandan, Bappaditya Sinha, Navlakha, Amit Chakravarti, and Worldwide Media Holding LLC as NewsClick’s shareholders. It adds that Navlakha was a shareholder in NewsClick since its inception in 2018 while accusing him of involvement in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as “actively supporting” banned naxal (Maoist) organisations.
'Large Amount of Funds Routed From China'
The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by an Inspector Praveen of the Special Cell police station.
This was preceded by a New York Times (NYT) report published in August 2023 which alleged that the news portal was funded by businessman Singham for "pushing Chinese propaganda."
In its FIR, the Special Cell has alleged that the portal had been receiving funds since 2018 from three different entities — two linked to Singham and a third to his wife’s NGO.
Police also says that a “large amount” of Chinese funding was used to publish “paid news,” which criticised the policies of the Indian government and promoted the policies of the Chinese.
"In furtherance of this conspiracy to disrupt sovereignty of India and to cause disaffection against India, large amount of funds were routed from China in circuitous and camouflaged manner and paid news were intentionally peddled criticising domestic policies, development projects of India and promoting , projecting and defending policies and programmes of Chinese government."
Along with Purkayastha, Singham, writer-editor Geeta Hariharan, the FIR also names one Gautam Bhatia as a "key person" in creating a Legal Community Network in India to "campaign for and put up a spirited defense of legal cases against the aforementioned (Xiaomi, Vivo) Chinese Telecom Companies in return for benefits by these Chinese Companies."
"That Prabir Purkayastha, Nevile Roy Singham, Gautam Navlakha, and their known and unknown associates have been involved in continuous unlawful activities which include undermining India's unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
That aforementioned accused have conspired to commit unlawful activities and terrorist acts by aiding and abetting disruption of supplies and services essential for life of community and continued damage and destruction of property through illegal means."
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