New Delhi: A court here on Wednesday granted the Delhi Police 10 days more to complete its investigation against NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha in a case lodged under the anti-terror law UAPA over allegations that the news portal received money to spread pro-China propaganda.
Additional Sessions judge Hardeep Kaur passed the order on an application filed by police, which sought more time to complete its investigation, claiming it was "at a crucial stage". The judge had on December 22 granted the city police 60 more days to complete the probe. The court on February 23 further granted 20 more days to police to conduct the investigation.
The judge also extended the judicial custody of Purkayastha and accused-turned-approver Amit Chakravarty, NewsClick's HR department head, by 10 more days. The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty on October 3. Without the court's permission, the probe agency would have had three months from the day of the arrest to complete the probe.
According to the law, if a probe agency fails to complete the investigation within the stipulated time, the accused in custody have a statutory right to bail. According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country. It also alleged Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on October 3 against the suspects named in the FIR and those whose names surfaced in the analysis of data, the police said. Around 300 electronic gadgets were also seized from the offices of NewsClick and the residences of the journalists who were examined. Following the raids, 46 individuals, including nine female journalists, were questioned by the Special Cell.
