The Delhi Police Special Cell’s probe into news portal NewsClick has unearthed a complex web of alleged transactions with Chinese entities and its reported global agents.
NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty were arrested on October 3 in connection with the alleged funding to the NewsClick from China to peddle fake narrative about the central government.
CNN-News18 has accessed the First Information Report (FIR). Prima facie, the investigators claim that the Communist Party of China-linked telecom companies have routed funds to NewsClick subsidiaries through shell companies. The FIR suggests that the money was routed in exchange for favours.
HOW THE MONEY WAS PUMPED IN: WHAT THE FIR SAYS
The FIR claims that telecom majors such as Xiaomi and Vivo among others used a number of shell companies to pump crores of rupees into people’s dispatch portal, which is allegedly run by NewsClick.
According to the FIR, the funds were used to support an organisation called Legal Community Network set up by the accused to defend Chinese telecom companies facing cases in Indian courts.
The FIR also claims that Neville Singham, who has been described in the global press as a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agent living in Shanghai, used a number of shell companies to pump in crores into NewsClick.
The FIR states that NewsClick is owned by “Prabir Purkayastha and Gautam Navlakha, who are involved in the Maoist movement and have links to Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was tried in the United States on charges of being an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent". The police also claim that the money was handed to NewsClick to misprepresent India’s case on Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir.
Secondly, to finance the farmers’ protest that the police claimed caused great economic loss to India. The FIR also claims the funds were used by NewsClick to spread disinformation about India’s response to the Covid-19 crisis to shake public confidence in the pharma industry, and to sabotage the 2019 polls.
All this, the investigators claim, is a bid to undermine India’s national security and therefore attracts the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charge.
The investigators will have to convince the courts of the charges at a later date by tracing the funds back to Singham and Chinese telecom majors. They will also have to establish that the money was secreted away and used for the allegedly diabolic purposes that NewsClick is charged with.
IS SINGHAM A CHINESE AGENT?
The big question is whether Singham is a Chinese agent as is often claimed. Here are the claims about Singham made in a special investigation by the NYTimes, which he has not challenged:
- Singham is part of a lavishly funded campaign to defend China
- He works closely with the Chinese media and finances propaganda
- He has collaborations with Chinese universities for spy ops
- Develops online content with the Chinese propaganda department
- Disseminates pro-China content in multiple languages
- Is a regular at Chinese Communist Party fora.
NEWSCLICK’s DEFENCE
NewsClick’s lawyer Kapil Sibal has demanded that the courts quash the probe related to his clients. The court has, as of Friday, not granted any immediate relief to the accused.
Sibal sought relief on the grounds that Purkayastha was taken to a magistrate at 6am and that he was not informed about it. Sibal said that the grounds for arrest have not been given to him, as mandated by the Supreme Court. He also added that the arrest was illegal as it violates the high court’s rules for access to counsel. Sibal claimed that the remand order was passed without hearing his response.
The Delhi High Court on Friday deferred the hearing to October 9.
CONGRESS’S ATTACK
However, even as the matter is sub-judice and under investigation, the Congress began needling Prime Minister Narendra Modi, linking him to the CCP. In a post on X, the party’s general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh asked his followers to ask themselves who is actually supported by China in the country.
The post read: “Mr. Modi has met Xi 20 times, including sitting on a jhoola with him. Mr. Modi gave the Chinese a clean chit publicly on the issue of border transgressions on June 19, 2020. Mr. Modi allowed PM Cares Fund to take crores of donations from Chinese companies. Mr. Modi’s BFF has a Chinese national undertaking money laundering and round-tripping of funds. So who is really controlled by foreign powers?"
HARD FACTS ON HOW IT DIDN’T INFLUENCE NDA’s DECISION-MAKING
Here are some hard facts that suggest that even though some Chinese telecom majors may have poured funds into the PM Cares funds, it didn’t influence National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) decision-making towards China.
- September 2023: India floats the Indian Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEEC) to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
- August 2023: Modi raised concerns over border incursions during BRICS
- October 2022: Chinese journalists repatriated by India. Also, India didn’t back China in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over Uyghur issue
- May 2021: India excludes Huawei and Zte from 5G trials
- March 2021: India attends first Quad summit to counter China on global stage
- June 2020: India bans hundreds of Chinese apps
- April 2020: India mandates government clearance for Chinese investments.
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