New Delhi: The Delhi Police has accused NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, who was arrested in a case filed under the anti-terror law following allegations that the portal received money for pro-China propaganda, of conspiring to peddle a narrative that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories.
The Delhi Police claim figured in the custodial remand application it moved before the jurisdictional court. On Tuesday, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police arrested Purkayastha and the portal's HR head Amit Chakravarty.
- According to the remand application, "Secret inputs revealed that Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham and some other Chinese employees of Singham-owned Shanghai-based company have exchanged mails which expose their intent to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not part of India."
- What is the conspiracy? The police said, "Such attempts by these persons reveal their conspiracy to peddle a narrative, both globally and domestically, that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories. Their attempts to tinker with the northern borders of India and to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not parts of India in maps amount to an act intended towards undermining the unity and territorial integrity of India."
- Truck with ISI agent- Remand report accused a shareholder of having trucks with ISI agent. It said the Delhi Police learnt that Gautam Navlakha, a shareholder in NewsClick, remained involved in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as actively supporting banned Naxal organisations and having anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan's ISI.
- Foreign funds siphoned off- The Delhi Police charged that foreign funds have been siphoned off by Purkayastha and his associates.
- Larger conspiracy charge- The remand application said the accused persons have also conspired to disrupt supplies and services essential to the life of community in India and abet damage and destruction of property by protraction of farmers' protest through such illegal foreign funding.
- Discredit government efforts in containing Covid19 charge- A false narrative was propagated to discredit the efforts of the Indian government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the police said in its application.
- Conspiracy to disrupt electoral process in 2019- The Delhi Police said Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 general elections. It was also learnt that People's Dispatch Portal, owned and maintained by NewsClick, has been used for intentionally peddling these false narratives through paid news in lieu of crores of rupees of illegally routed foreign funds as part of a conspiracy, it stated.
- E-mails on creating India map without Kashmir, to show Arunachal Pradesh as disputed area- An analysis of e-mails shows that Singham, Purkayastha and Chakraborty were in direct contact with each other and were found to be discussing how to create a map of India without Kashmir and to show Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed area, the application stated.
- Foreign funds Rs 115 cr received to further this agenda- To achieve the objective, the accused persons, in the guise of foreign funds, received more than Rs 115 crore, according to the application.
- On Tuesday, a raid was conducted on Tuesday at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on the suspects named in the FIR and surfaced in the analysis of data, the police said. The police applied for 15 days' police remand for both the accused and got their custody for seven days. The police sealed NewsClick's office in Delhi, officials said, adding that 46 suspects were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, and documents taken away for examination. (with PTI inputs)
