NEW DELHI: News portal NewsClick’s human resources department head Amit Chakravarty has filed an application before a Delhi court to seek approval to become an approver in the case registered under stringent provisions of Unlawful Activites Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly receiving foreign funds through Chinese firms to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Chakravarty and the portal’s founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha were arrested by the Delhi police special cell on October 3 after 400 police personnel raided about 30 locations across Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai and Ghaziabad. In their first information report (FIR), the Delhi police alleged that a sum of ₹75 crore allegedly came to the website from China to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and cause disaffection against the country.
Also Read | Delhi Police’s probe into NewsClick began before NYT report: Case timeline till October 3
Chakravarty last week filed an application under section 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before additional sessions judge (ASJ) Hardeep Kaur, a provision that allows the court to grant pardon to an accomplice in a crime on the condition that he makes a full disclosure of the whole of the circumstances, within his knowledge, related to the offence and to every other person concerned.
The sessions court has listed the matter before the metropolitan magistrate concerned to record Chakravarty’s statement, which would be examined by the court to take a decision on the application to be an approver.
The development comes against the backdrop of the special cell investigators requesting the sessions court for giving them an additional 60 days under Section 43D of UAPA to complete their probe. This provision gives investigators 90 days to complete their probe which would have ended on January 1 but empowers the courts to give the investigating agency an extension of a maximum of 180 days after a report is submitted indicating the progress of the investigation and the reasons for further detention of the accused.
Chakraborty and Purkayastha are currently in judicial custody in connection with the FIR registered on August 17. The special cell registered the case under sections 13 (unlawful activities), 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising fund for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy) and 22C (offences by companies, societies, and trusts) of UAPA as well as sections 153A (promoting enmity) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
The FIR, filed roughly two weeks after an investigation in the New York Times alleged that the portal was part of a global network that received money for pushing Chinese propaganda, alleged that the founder conspired with a group called People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.