'Strict actions will be taken on NewsClick...,' BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam

NEW DELHI: Reacting to the Delhi Police conducting raids at different premises linked to NewsClick, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam said that strict actions will be taken on NewsClick or any other agency that will work on the funds from foreign countries to break the country. This comes as Delhi police's raids are underway at different premises linked to NewsClick under UAPA and other sections.

"Strict actions 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," Gautam said.

Delhi Police 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. 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).

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that if anyone has committed anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them under set guidelines. "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 said.

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 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, is at the centre 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.