New Delhi- Delhi Police’s Special Cell Tuesday morning conducted raids at the premises of online portal NewsClick and its journalists, triggering outrage against the action among scribes.
The Special Cell has registered a new case and started an investigation, officials said.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids at the firm’s premises probing its sources of funding. The Special Cell is now raiding the media firm on the basis of inputs provided by the central agency.
Officials in the know said police have recovered the dump data from laptops and mobile phones of some journalists of NewsClick.
Some journalists have been brought to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office, but no one has been arrested so far, they said.
Abhisar Sharma, a senior journalist, wrote on X, “Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and phone.”
Another journalist, Bhasha Singh, wrote on X, “Finally last tweet from this phone. Delhi police seizure (sic) my phone.”
The Press Club of India on X said it is deeply concerned about raids on the houses of journalists and writers associated with NewsClick.
“The Press Club of India is deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with #Newsclick. We are monitoring the developments and will be releasing a detailed statement.
“The PCI stands in solidarity with the journalists and demands the government to come out with details,” it said.
Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti described the raids as a “fishing” expedition.
Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said the raids were extremely perturbing as she accused the central government of championing press abroad and attacking it at home.
“GOI claims India is the mother of democracy & about press freedom abroad yet in the same breath uses state agencies to the crackdown on the remaining handful of independent media outlets.
“Even telephone devices have been forcibly snatched only for a fishing expedition. The repeated illegal pattern of arrest first & creating fake charges later is extremely perturbing (sic),” Mufti wrote in a post on X.
In August, the Delhi High Court sought the stand of NewsClick Founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha on a plea by the city police seeking vacation of an earlier order granting him interim protection from arrest in an unlawful foreign funding case.
The website recently hit the headlines for allegedly receiving money from US millionaire Neville Roy Singham for pro-China propaganda in India.
Citing an investigation by The New York Times, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur too recently claimed that the NewsClick’s money trail revealed an “anti-India agenda.”
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