New Delhi: Providing funding to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Left-Wing Extremists (LWE) and distributing cash among “rioters” associated with the 2019 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) — these are the allegations against NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and activist Gautam Navlakha in the chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in the alleged NewsClick case last month.
In the over 8,000-page long chargesheet — which a Delhi court took cognisance of Tuesday — both Purkayastha and NewsClick have been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In terms of evidence, the chargesheet contains mail trails, chats, financial transactions of the company and statements of witnesses.
The allegations of funds being transferred for terror activities to LeT and for Maoist violence is largely based on statements by protected witnesses, said sources.
The controversy surrounding NewsClick‘s alleged connections to China grabbed public attention following an investigative report by The New York Times in August 2023, which linked NewsClick to Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American tech mogul.
The report claimed that NewsClick, funded by Singham, had been incorporating “Chinese government talking points” into its coverage.
Delhi Police arrested Purkayastha and NewsClick’s human resource head Amit Chakraborty in the case on 3 October, 2023. Chakraborty has since turned approver in the case.
Meanwhile, activist Navlakha, arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case in August 2018, was granted bail in that connection last December.
Several journalists have been questioned and their electronic devices impounded in the NewsClick case.
In its chargesheet, Delhi Police accused Purkayastha of being involved in “malicious activities” through PPK NewsClick Studio Private Limited, of which Purkayastha is a director and shareholder. Investigators also claim that the veteran journalist used his “employees and partners” to distribute cash among rioters during the protest against the controversial citizenship law, the CAA.
Purkayastha is also accused of being involved in “terror financing”.
Although primarily based on statements from five witnesses, the chargesheet names a total of 207 witnesses, eight of whom are “protected”.
Among their other statements, these protected witnesses — whom the chargesheet calls “Gama” — have allegedly imputed that Purkayastha had money distributed among anti-CAA protesters such as Sharjeel Imam. The witnesses have also claimed that the veteran journalist helped fund the purchase of weapons for the anti-CAA protests, as well as the 2020-21 farmers’ protests.
“PP NewsClick India LLP was converted into a private ltd company (sic) so that funds should be given in the guise of investment and service agreement amount received of Rs 91 crore. This fund was later used in terror activities,” the chargesheet reads.
In its official reaction, NewsClick called the allegations “completely baseless”. “NewsClick and Prabir have not been involved in any terrorist act. Nor is there any evidence for the same. Prabir does not have links to any terrorist group,” the statement said.
It also questioned the timings of the report, claiming that they “aim to prejudice public opinion and pending judicial proceedings”.
“Only yesterday (April 30, 2024), cognisance of the ‘offences’ was taken, and this is selective leaking of the chargesheet filed by the Special Cell of the Delhi police. The chargesheet is nothing but a set of opinions of the investigating officer parading as ‘allegations’. These allegations will be firmly contested by NewsClick and Prabir,” the statement added.
Also Read: Headlines say it all—NewsClick coverage shows a deeply divided Indian media
‘Inciting Maoist violence, disbursing funds for anti-CAA protests’
Delhi Police chargesheet accuses Purkayastha of using his employees to incite the “Muslim community” to commit violence during the anti-CAA protests.
Money was also disbursed through various entities to stir and incite Maoist violence in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, it says.
Police further claim to have found a mail trail that proves that the “conspiracy” was hatched in 2016 and funds were raised with “the objective of committing terrorist acts”.
These funds were used for “stoking and sustaining” the Delhi riots, a “disinformation campaign” on Covid-19, the 2020-2021 farmers’ protests, “terror funding of the Left Wing Extremists” and Pakistan-sponsored “terrorist organisations” in Jammu and Kashmir.
For evidence to support its UAPA charge, police have cited the “tinkering with (the) map of Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh” and an “altered” Chinese map of Aksai Chin.
“Prabir Purkayastha in furtherance of common conspiracy with Neville Roy Singham and others during COVID-19 time had criticised noble effects of (the) Indian government to control COVID-19 and also published his articles against the vaccine manufactured by Indian pharmaceutical companies with the intention of causing disaffection towards India,” the chargesheet reads.
In its statement, NewsClick said Purkyastha “would never support, financially or otherwise, either ‘Maoists,’ Lashkar-e-Taiba (sic) or any other group or individual with any violent and/ or illegal plans”.
It denied also the allegations that it had distributed money to stoke riots, adding that, like other media houses, it covered major developments such as the anti-CAA and farmers’ protests.
On allegations of distorting the maps, the statement said it had “followed all the relevant rules with regard to maps in its news bulletins and articles”. NewsClick’s coverage of protests and critiques of the government’s policies is being portrayed as anti-India, it said.
“All the allegations leveled against us are concocted and baseless. These allegations are based on the statements of ‘protected witnesses’ which have to be proved in Court. There is no corroborative material to support these statements, which will be contested by NewsClick in the courts in due course. We are confident that Prabir, NewsClick, and the work of all its journalists will be vindicated,” the statement said.
On its COVID-19 coverage, the media house said: “Prabir has been, over several decades, part of science and technology groups that have advocated self-reliance – strengthening indigenous manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector. He has also argued against intellectual property barriers that make vaccines inaccessible to the poor”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: What ED found in NewsClick ‘China links’ probe: ‘Rs 77 cr inflow, Beijing agenda in news’