The houses of journalists, employees as well as premises linked with news portal NewsClick were raided this morning. This comes amid allegations that the portal had received funding from China.
A large-scale raid is being carried out by the Delhi Police Special Cell at over 30 locations in Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad, according to an India Today report. It added that the Delhi Police Special Cell has registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
During the raid, the Police seized a lot of electronic evidence, laptops, mobile phones and took data dumps of hard disks.
NewsClick’s Abhisar Sharma took to X and confirmed about the same. "Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and Phone...," he wrote.
Tuesday's searches at premises linked to NewsClick are based on the input shared by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), indicating unlawful activities by the suspects.
An investigation by ED had revealed fraudulent infusion of foreign fund of Rs 38.05 crore during a short span of three years. The funds so received were distributed to several controversial journalists, including Gautam Navlakha and associates of Teesta Setalvad.
The scrutiny of the evidence by the ED revealed questionable infusion of foreign inward remittance of Rs 9.59 crore by way of FDI and Rs 28.46 crore by way of export of services.
Details regarding China link were also shared by the ED with Delhi Police.
In February 2021, the ED had conducted searches at multiple premises linked to NewsClick in connection with a money laundering probe. Eight premises were raided linked to the site and its promoters, including South Delhi's Saidulajab, Gurgaon, and other areas. The action was taken as per provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A New York Times report alleged that millionaire Neville Roy Singham, who worked closely with the Chinese government media and financed its propaganda worldwide, had also financed NewsClick.
(With inputs from Arvind Ojha)