The Delhi Police, in an FIR filed under anti-terror law UAPA following allegations against news portal NewsClick, has alleged that a large amount of funds came from China in order to disrupt India’s sovereignty and cause disaffection against the country.
The Delhi Police served a copy of the FIR to the portal on Friday, a day after a city court directed it to do so. According to the FIR, a copy of which is with PTI, Chinese telecom giants have floated thousands of shell companies in India.
“In furtherance of this conspiracy to disrupt the sovereignty of India and cause disaffection against India, a large amount of funds was routed from China in a circuitous and camouflaged manner and paid news were intentionally peddled, criticising domestic policies, development projects of India and promoting, projecting and defending policies and programmes of the Chinese government,” the FIR says.
The document claims “foreign funds (were) fraudulently infused by Neville Roy Singham”, an American millionaire believed to have close ties to the Chinese government’s media machine. Singham’s Worldwide Media Holding LLC became a shareholder of 7.69 per cent shares whereas Purkayastha held 91.38 per cent of the shares, police officials told The Week after Purkayastha’s arrest earlier this week.
The police investigation had revealed that in order to run the news website, Purkayastha followed a “well thought device” to fund the operations by disguising the funds received as Foreign Direct Investment. According to the FIR, Chinese telecom giants also have floated thousands of shell companies in India.
It also alleges that the founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, Prabir Purkayastha, conspired with a group—People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)—to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Purkayastha and Amit Charavarty, the human resources department head at NewsClick, have been arrested by the Delhi Police.
