Delhi Police raids NewsClick offices, writers brought to special cell office

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Tuesday brought NewsClick writers Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Urmilesh to the special cell offices in the national capital. Two senior police officials also are at the special cell premises.

This comes as Delhi police's raids are underway at different premises linked to NewsClick under UAPA and other sections.

Sources informed that laptops, mobiles, diaries, and other seized articles were also brought by police to a special cell at the Lodhi Road office. The raids are being conducted on a case registered on August 17th under UAPA and other sections of IPC, which include UAPA, 153A of IPC (promoting enmity between two groups), and 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy). Counself for Urmilesh, Gaurav Yadav who also reached Delhi Police Special Cell office said he had no information on why the writer had been taken to the special cell office.

"Urmilesh's wife informed me that he has been arrested by Delhi Police. I have no other details as of now" the counsel told ANI.

Speaking to ANI on the matter, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said that if anyone has done something, investigation agencies are free to carry out investigations.

"I don't need to justify... If anyone has committed anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them under set guidelines," Thakur told ANI.

BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam said strict actions will be taken on NewsClick or any other agency that will work on the funds from foreign countries.

"Strict action will be taken on NewsClick or any other agency that will work on the funds from foreign countries to break the country. China does not want to see our country grow and it is trying to use anti-national agencies against the country".

Congress spokesperson and permanent invitee to the CWC Gurdeep Sappal criticised the government for this action "So the crackdown media and journalists is not just a matter of a instant causation. It is an expression of the political philosophy of BJP/RSS, it represents the India they want to create surreptitiously" Sappal said in a post on X.

Earlier on August 10 a report in the New York Times had alleged that NewsClick was part of a global network that receives funding from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham. Singham is known as a socialist benefactor of far-left causes and is at the center of a lavishly funded influence campaign that defends China and pushes its propaganda. Neville Roy Singham is said to have close ties to the Chinese government media machine.