New Delhi. Delhi Police on Saturday filed an over 8,000-page charge sheet in a case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against news portal Newsclick, in which the portal and its founder Prabir Purkayastha have been named as accused.
The portal and Purkayastha are accused of receiving huge amounts of money for pro-China propaganda through their stories. According to sources, the charge sheet runs into several thousand pages. The Special Cell of Delhi Police filed the final report before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur.
According to Special Public Prosecutors Akhand Pratap Singh and Suraj Rathi, Purkayastha and PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited have been named as accused in the charge sheet. Court sources have said that the charge sheet contains more than 8000 pages with enclosures. The date of April 16 has been fixed for the next hearing of the case.
The police last year booked the accused under sections 13, 16, 17, 18 and 22 of the UAPA as well as section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) And a case was registered under section 120B (criminal conspiracy).
The court had extended time to Delhi Police to file the charge sheet first in December last year and then in February this year. Later, on March 20, the time required to file the final report was again extended by 10 days after taking into account the arguments of the government prosecutors.
On October 3, 2023, the police also arrested NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and human resources department head Amit Chakraborty. In January this year, the court had accepted Chakraborty’s application seeking permission to turn approver.
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Tags: CBI, China, Delhi police, Enforcement directorate
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 30, 2024, 22:37 IST